Vampire: The Dark Ages. Clan Novel 5: Lasombra

Praise for David Niall Wilson
“David Wilson has taken the horror genre’s most v:nerable
icon-the vampire-to a new level of transcendence.
--Thomas Monteleone, author of The Resurrectionist & Blood
of the Lamb
“David Niall Wilson is one of the genre’s brightest new stars.
Darkly brilliant and intensely literate, his work accomplishesa
rare feat-it challenges, it frightens, and it succeeds.I wouldn’t
miss anything he writes.”
-Richard Chizmar, editor of Cemetery Dance Magazine
And for the Dark Ages
Clan Novel Series
For Dark A es: Nosferatu
by G h e r od Fleming
i
“Well-written [and] by one of White Wolf’s best current authors ...”
-John Margaritsanakis,E x Libis Nocturnis
“[Fleming] does not disappoint ... Four out of five stars.”
-Lars
KAre M. Sukka, RPG United
For Dark Ages: Assamite
by S t e f a n Petrucha
“There are quite a few twists and turns and a level of thoughtfulness that take this above the average vampire adventure.
Dark Ages: Assamite is an imaginative and grippingwinner.”
-Jim Brock, Baryon Magazine
For Dark Ages: Cappadocian
by A n d r e w Bates
.
“An excellent novel.. . very entertaining.. ..”
-Ralph Dula, RPG.net
Dark Ages and Vampire Fiction from
White Wolf
The Dark Ages Clan Novel Series
Dark Ages: Nosferatu by Gherbod Fleming
Dark Ages: Assamite by Stefan Petmcha
Dark Ages: Cappadocianby Andrew Bates
Dark Ages: Setite by Kathleen Ryan
Dark Ages: Lasombra by David Niall Wilson
Other Dark Ages Fiction
Dark Tyrants by JustinAchilli & Robert Hatch (editors)
The Erciyes Fragments by C. S. Friedman
To Sift Through Bitter Ashes by David Niall Wilson
To Speak in Lifeless Tongues by David Niall Wilson
To Dream of Dreamers Lost by David Niall Wilson
The Clan Novel Series
Clan Novel: Toreador by Stewart Wieck
Clan Novel: Tzimisce by Eric Griffin
Clan Novel: Gangrel by Gherbod Fleming
Clan Novel: Setite by Kathleen Ryan
Clan Novel: Ventrue by Gherbod Fleming
Clan Novel: Lasombra by Richard E. Dansky
Clan Novel: Assamite by Gherbod Fleming
Clan Novel: Ravnos by Kathleen Ryan
Clan Novel: Malkavian by Stewart Wieck
Clan Novel: Giovanni by Justin Achilli
Clan Novel: Brujah by Gherbod Fleming
Clan Novel: Tremere by Eric Griffin
Clan Novel: Nosferatu by Gherbod Fleming
Also by David Niall Wilson
“Childrenof Gaia” in Tribe Novel #5: Children of Gaia &a
Uktena
Wraith: Except You Go Through Shadow (included in The
Essential World of Darkness)
For all these titles and more, visit www.white-wolf.com/fiction
David Niall Wilson
AD 1206
Fifth of t h e Dark Ages Clan Novels
Cover art by John Bolton. Map by Conan Venus.
Graphic design by Kieran Yanner. Art direction by
Richard Thomas. Copyediting by Melissa Thorpe.
02003 White Wolf, Inc. All rights reserved
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White Wolf and Vampire ate registered trademarks of White Wolf
Publishing, Inc. Dark Ages Vampire, Dark Ages Nosferatu, Dark Ages
Assamite, Dark Ages Cappadocian, Dark Ages Setite, Dark Ages
Lasombra, Dark Ages Ravnos To Sift Through Bitter Ashes, To Speak in
Lifeless Tongues, To Dream of Dreamers Lost, Dark Tyrants, The Erciyes
Fragments, Clan Novel Toreador, Clan Novel Tzimisce, Clan Novel
Gangrel, Clan Novel Setite, Clan Novel Ventrue, Clan Novel Lasombra,
Clan Novel Assamite, Clan Novel Ravnos, Clan Novel Malkavian, Clan
Novel Giovanni, Clan Novel Brujah, Clan Novel Tremere, Clan Novel
Nosferatu and Tribe Novel Children of Gaia & Uktena are trademarks of
White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
ISBN 1-58846-820-8
First Edition: April 2003
Printed i n Canada
W h i t e Wolf Publishing
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www.white-wolf.com/fiction
Acknowledgments
-
This book is dedicated to Trish, who makes all things
in my life possible, including insane deadlines and
creative darkness. I would also like to grateful11y acknowledge Mr. William Hartman for his interest in
the World of Darkness, his creative addition to this
volume, and his amazing generosity.
1
Finally, I’d like to dedicate this to my little bro ther.
It was a long time coming, but when he started I-eading, he did me the extra honor of loving my writing,
1
and the vampire Montrovant from the Grails Yovenant Trilogy. Here’s another one, bro.
pabseu
S I I ~ L Cm
e riiibguiueu rwurui Lrubaut: W L K ~ U
and looted the golden city of Constantinople. T h e
Franks and V e n e t i a n s r a l l e d simply Latins by the
local Greeks-have carved up the fallen city and
empire, founding their Latin Empire of Byzantium.
Already they face threats from the Bulgars in Thrace
and various Greek successor states, but for now a
Frenchman sits o n the throne of the Second Rome.
Away from the eyes of men, in the benighted world
of vampires, things are n o less chaotic. Michael, the
powerful predator who ruled as patriarch of the Byzantine undead has been destroyed, and none have
stepped forward t o succeed him. Among Greek vampires, all hopes rest with Malachite, a member of the
Nosferatu clan. H e is said to be on a quest across
Anatolia to find the Dracon, a n ancient who had a
hand in founding Byzantium. Among the Latins,
members of Clan Lasombra-an ancient line of Mediterranean schemers and kingmakers-vie for power.
Alfonzo, a bishop in the macabre Cainite Heresy,
represents Venetian interests, while t h e Lady
Gabriella is an agent of rival Genoa. No one has any
real handle o n the Latin Empire or t h e bands of
vampiric refugees gathering in Adrianople, only a few
nights’ ride away.
The young vampire Lucita of Aragon is afloat i n these
troubled political seas. Far from her Iberian home,
she can either sink or swim.
Prologue: Ten Years Ago (AD 1196)
Alfonzo the Venetian moved smoothly through the
alleys of Constantinopie’sLatin Quarter. At his side, laughing and leaping occasionally to a low ledge, or flipping
over a portico, Juliano and Adrianna accompanied him.
It had been an amazing night. They’d attended a local
festival, slipping through shadows and mingling with the
crowds. Blood had pulsed all around them, hot and heady,
and they’d dragged several into the darkness, feeding until they were gorged.
The blood had energized them, and Alfonzo, sire to
the others, was feeling powerful. Invincible. He liked to
get out and away from the affairs of his position. He was a
bishop in the Cainite Heresy, a church unknown to popes
and patriarchs but potent nonetheless. He was the childe
of Narses, the Archbishop of Nod himself, who counted
on him in many things. But the moments he cherished
were those on the hunt. It was best when shared, and he
had none others he preferred to share it with. Juliano was
young and bold, dark of hair and eye with the body of a
Greek athlete. Adrianna, in contrast, was slight, her perpetually young features, those of a girl just entering the
nunnery, but the wicked twist of her grin belied the deception of her appearance.
Ahead, his estate spread out between two important
avenues. They hurried their approach. The dawn would
soon soak over the skyline and bring the cursed sun. They
had precious little time left, after their revelry, to reach
their places of rest.
As they approached the walls of the mansion, rising
tall and majestic,Alfonzo could not help himself. He raised
his arms and called on the shadows that resonated in tune
with his dark, dead blood. He gathered them and flung
them to the wall, using them first as a stair-step to leap
David Niall Wilson
9
and then snaking his way up the wall in a sinuous dark
mass that resembled a giant serpent, or a wave of darkness. Juliano stopped, crouching low and watching his sire
taking his leave with a dark smile.
“Always the showman,” Adrianna commented with
a laugh.
Juliano nodded. “Always the showman,”he corrected.
Then, feeling the oppressiveweight of the approaching dawn, the two hurried to a ground-level entrance.
Their own quarters were beneath the main level. Alfonzo
had sealed off an upper chamber, preferring the heights.
*
*
*
The first sensation that something was wrong assaulted Juliano and Adrianna as they entered the hall.
None of the movement they associated with the place was
there, no servants bustling about to prepare the day-face
of the bishop’s home. Nothing. Juliano glanced at
Adrianna, not nervous, but questioning. She shrugged,
and they hurried down the hall.
A stair led down to the left, and they took it, several
steps at a time, ready now for their rest. The sluggishness
was kicking in, drawing them toward the embrace of the
earth. They knew it was time to be away from the open
halls and chambers and tucked away safely behind thick,
iron doors.
They reached the door to their chambers and Juliano
grabbed the huge iron ring, dragging on it. Nothing happened. He frowned, gripping more tightly and yanking
harder, but the door didn’t budge. It took a second to register, then he hissed.
“It’sbeen latched. Someone is inside, and it’s locked.”
Adrianna only had time to blink.at him, wondering
if a joke was being played, or if he were teasing her. She
started to speak, but was cut off.
Steps pounded on the stairs behind them, and the
two whirled. Men poured out of the stairwell, eyes wild
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Lasom bra
and arms upraised with swords and crosses. At their head,
a white-haired madman pranced. He waved his cross over
his head and began to shout over the tumult.
“As your father Caine bows before Satan,” the man
cried, “so shall you bow before Calomena.”
“Whoin the seven hells is Calomena?”Julianohissed,
backing against the wall and looking wildly for an escape.
Adrianna did not answer. She was busy pressing into
the opposite wall, protecting her back.
There was no way out. The passage dead-ended beside the now impassable doorway to their chambers. The
only way out was through, and if they won through, they
would find the daylight waiting.
The mortals banded together behind their aged leader,
and he continued to speak, intoning the words as if he
were reading them from some sacrament, though his gaze
was locked to those of his two prisoners.
“Dark Caine has a sister,” he said solemnly, “and she
has a purpose. A destiny. She is the heart, and we are her
limbs.”
Juliano sprang. He had no intention of listening to
this gray-haired lunatic preach. The sun was rising, and
the strength was draining from his limbs too quickly. He
reached the line of mortals just as he heard Adrianna’s
scream behind him. She had attacked, as well, striking
the mob on the far side of the leader. Blood washed the
floor as Juliano lashed out again and again, drawing the
last of his strength into that bolting run. He nearly made
the stairs when the whistle of a blade caught his ear too
late, and he was cut nearly in two. He spun madly, careening off the wall, fighting to remain alert. Crashing into
the stone, he found himself facing off with a huge, bearded
man.
Eyes wide and mouth literally foaming, the giant
lunged, crying out. Over the sound of the battle, Juliano
could still hear the strong, resonant voice of the leader.
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11
“Take this offering, Calomena, toward the day when
you shall rise, and the children of Caine will be washed
from the face of God’s earth in a river of stolen blood.”
Juliano sank toward the floor, and the blade sank into
his flesh again, half-severing his head from his body. He
choked, coughing out a final word before a last stroke severed his neck completely.
“Adrianna.”
She lay in final death, far beyond hearing him, the
remnant of her flesh decaying quickly, ravaged by the boots
and blades and spittle of the mob, praying now in unison.
Fraying to Calomena to wash the evil from the earth.
*
*
*
Far above, safely behind walls of stone and doors of
iron, Bishop Alfonzo rested. In his rest, he stirred, nearly
crying out, but he did not rise. The sun was high in the
sky, washing the shadowsdown ditches and sweeping them
under doors. Below, his childer lay slain. On the ashes
that remained, he would find only a silver medallion for
each. In relief on that trinket, the profile of Calomena,
glittering coldly, would mock him.
12
Lasornbra
Chapter One
Lucita of Aragon stared off into the deepening darkness and wondered if the city would ever shake off its
drifting shroud of smoke and death. The “Dream,” the
Greeks’romantic notion of their city’s glorious past, was a
giant monument to destruction and decay, and Lucita had
never enjoyed mourning.
Beneath the balcony where she stood, the clatter of
carriage wheels echoed through the night. Hooves
pounded the pocked remnant of the road. Lord Brexiano’s
entourage was the only thing moving within sight of the
balcony. The carriage bounced precariously, a rider to either side, their mounts skittering sideways to avoid the
jostling coach. Lucita momentarily entertained the hope
that one of the wheels would snap, unceremoniouslypouring the sniveling, useless ambassador onto the earth. It
would be a good way to remember him.
Brexiano would crawl back to Castile and Archbishop
Monqada, tail between his legs, and whine about the death
of the city and the ensuing chaos. It was expected of him.
He had been placed in a position of power, and he had
failed. Much of what had happened would already have
been relayed to Madrid, and Monqada would be angry.
When one ruled the confessionals, one owned the truth.
This was a lesson Lucita had learned early and well.
Brexiano would bear the bad news in his official capacity,
and he would bear the brunt of Monqada’s wrath.
Lucita knew better than to put herself in that position. Byzantium was rife with possibilities, chaotic and
without leadership. Brexiano was a fool, and in such a
climate he would flounder, or worse yet, ally himself with
some power beyond Monqada’s influence. Brexiano was
weak, so Lucita had sent him away. If he’d had a backbone he would not have allowed it, but the back of his
David Niall Wilson
13
departing carriage spoke the truth. There was only one
who could be trusted to handle the current situation in
Constantinople, and she stood watching the rest depart,
aching for the moment they would leave her sight, and
her mind. Lucita turned and crossed the room quickly.
The home she currently inhabited had supposedly been
magnificent before the crusaders broke through the walls
in 1204-was still magnificent, after a tortured, crumbling manner. There was rubble on the stairs, tapestries
hung crooked on the walls, the stains of blood and spilled
wine splashed on the walls and floors, much of the furniture had been overturned or destroyed. Lucita’s people
had begun the restoration of the building, but it was slow.
Only the skeleton remained. The city was a giant structure of bone and death, and through those bones, powers
moved silently.
The bones nearest to the mansion Lucita had claimed
were lower to the ground. They were dirty and overrun by
vermin, both human and otherwise. The Latin Quarter
stretched out like a human garbage heap, interspersedwith
pockets of power, infested with factions that should have
been banned from the city, a serpent’s nest of intrigue.
Still, it had weathered the storm of conquest better than
many other quarters. There wasn’t much you could do to
squalor to make it worse, and there w& little, on the surface, to plunder. It was all an artifice of magnificent design,
and at its center lay Alfonzo the Venetian.
Lucita moved about her room, sliding her sword-belt
about her slender waist, beneath the long cloak she wore,
the thin blade camouflaged by trailing silk. She did not
want to appear as an assassin, or a warrior, but as neither
would she enter the unfriendly darkness unprotected. At
times her seeming lack of years and slight figure were an
asset, at other times a burden. She could count on men to
underestimate her, but all too often this led to attacks and
unwanted advances, and always with the worst timing.
14
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There were those she needed to see, places she had
to visit. On every side the delicate balance of power was
shifting from one house to the next, whispering through
the alleys and teasing at the ambitions of the strong. The
city was in chaos, but the outcome of such chaos would be
order. The structure of that order would set the stage for
long years to come, and Lucita did not intend to be left in
the wings, watching as other played out their parts.
Alfonzo ruled the streets directly beyond her balcony,
and Venice was stretching long arms out to claim prizes
long denied. Constantinople. New Rome. Riches and
power, magnificent temples and dark trenches. Worse still,
Alfonzo and his Venetian masters were heretics, vampires
who professed the union of Christ and Caine and the primacy of bloodlust and any number of vile practices. Her
own sire, Archbishop Mongada, reserved an especial hatred for this Cainite Heresy, but she had never been quite
sure whether his ire stemmed from their differences in
belief, or from the fact that the heretics had their claws
deep in many mortal churches-just as he did. A combination of both, she imagined. Mongada believed
vampirism to be a test of the mortal soul, not a reward as
the heretics claimed.
T h a t orthodox view was foundering in
Constantinople and elsewhere, and those who would see
her topple pushed from all sides. The only thing that prevented the fall was the warring forces lined against one
another. They forced a fragile balance, and it was along
the sharp ridge that Lucita intended to stride.
The door opened, and she turned. Anatole entered
the room, eyes downcast, steps slow and deliberate. He
was maddening in his intricately contrived stoicism. Lucita
knew the wild dance of those down-turned eyes. She knew
the back-beat of his words, the subtle way he could twist a
moment into a vision, and back again without the slightest indication he was aware of that shift. He and MonFada
David Niall Wilson
15
shared many things, both were fervent, and both saw the
Curse of Caine as a test from God. But where Monqada
represented all the opulence and wealth of the bishoprics,
Anatole was a simple monastic brother, affecting the pale
robes of an ashen priest.
All this flashed through her thoughts, and more, before the Malkavian spoke.
“The carriage is waiting,”he said softly. “There is little
time if we expect to arrive on time. All about us, they
watch-they hover at the gates and mill about like pigs in
a sty. We must go.”
Lucita didn’t answer immediately. She continued to
check her weapons, moving about the room slowly. She
knew, of course, that she was ready, but she did not like to
give the appearance that any moment of her existence
could be scripted. Anatole, of course, would be smiling
beneath the shadows of his cowl, and waiting. The two
had traveled together too many times, shared too many
intimacies, for her contrived indifference to affect him.
“Brexianohas gone,” she said at last, turning to face
Anatole, and the door beyond him. “He will run back to
Madrid, no doubt to report on my insubordination and
the horrible ways I have undermined his authority. I am
certain he expects me to fail here-that is why he departs
so easily. If I banish him in Monqada’s name, then prove
less than worthy of this responsibility, it will deflect attention from his own inept actions.”
“There is a saying,” Anatole intoned. ‘You cannot
build a temple with no foundation.”
Lucita laughed softly. “Brexiano builds no temples
unless he is directed to build. He tells no tales unless he
feels they will support his feeble ego. I do not care what
he says to Mongada-I only care that he is gone. Can you
feel it?The freedom?”
A soft sound issued from beneath Anatole’s cowl. Not
exactly a chuckle, but what might have passed for one in
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Lasornbra
a noisy room. The monk was impossible to read., his emotions a chessboardwhere the pieces never moved the same
way twice. Lucita didn’t know if Anatole was glad that
Brexiano was gone, but she believed that he was. He had
always supported Lucita’s desires, and her desire to be rid
of the weak-kneed influence of Brexiano had been a palpable presence since they’d arrived in the winter of 1204
to find the crusaders camped outside the city.
Brexiano had wanted to withdraw, to wait out the
storm and then deal with the crusade when it moved on.
Then, when the attack came that April, he’d suggested
retreating to the makeshift refugee camp forming outside
Adrianople. The Crusade they’d wanted to shape was over
and the great Dream of Constantinople-the
Constantinople they’d known-was dead. Brexiano had
accepted this and moved on, already worrying over the
position he might weasel his way into once they returned
to Madrid, and to Monqada’s side.
Lucita dreaded such an end more than anything in
her existence. There was a weight hanging in the air between herself and her sire. She would not have been
surprised to find that he scourged himself in front of an
altar dedicated to the moment he could draw her fully
back into his clutches, and she had no desire to take up
residence near enough to allow his fantasies to ferment.
She respected his power, but she had enough sense to fear
it, as well.
As long as she remained where she was, furthering
Monqada’s goals through her words and deeds, she knew
she needn’t fear his interference. Monqada was many
things, but stupid was not one of them, and he had already realized that she was more valuable to his cause as
an ally and ambassador, than she would be as a slave to his
own dark desire, no matter how strong that urge might
be. As long as Lucita remained distant, they were a partnership of power.
David Niall Wilson
17
These last two years had been a constant effort to
keep Brexiano from pulling up camp, using the threats
of Assamites, Ventrue lords, Bulgarian armies and anything else that presented itself to put off their departure.
Now, she’d sent him away and she would have to deal
with the consequences.
Adjusting her sword belt a final time, and checking
the small bejeweled dagger in its scabbard at her side,
Lucita motioned toward the door.
“Let us leave this place, then,” she said. “Time, as
always-is our enemy.”
“Time is no enemy,” Anatole chided her, turning to
the door without once meeting her gaze. “Time is simply
time. After all, we invented it to judge our own progress
through eternity, why should it not humble itself to us, in
the end?”
“YOU speak in riddles more fluently than most men
speak their mind,” Lucita laughed.
Anatole did not offer an answer. He stepped through
the doorway to the hall beyond and moved toward the
stairs leading to the lower levels, and the stable beyond.
In the shadows, to either side of them, Lucita sensed his
followers gathering. Anatole never traveled alone these
nights, but from the silence and intensity of those who
mirrored his steps, one might have thought him very solitary indeed.
Lucita had servants-enough to see to immediate
comfort and important needs. The carriage would be
hitched and ready to move out. Even if her own people
had not seen to it, Anatole’s would have, or the monk
would have handled it himself. He was the most efficient
creature she had ever met, for all his madness. There would
be no wait, once they reached the gates.
“Have you sent word ahead?”she asked softly.
“Ofcourse,” Anatole replied. “Theyare expectingyou.”
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Lucita nodded. She knew there were dozens of others she would have to speak to, cajole, and manipulate to
reach the end she sought. Anatole knew, as well. They
had spent long hours going over it, she pacing and speaking her thoughts aloud, as if to the wind, and he nodding,
tossing out arcane insights and seemingly nonsensical
phrases that would haunt her, itch at the back of her mind,
and eventually manifest themselves as truth, no matter
how obscure their initial trappings.
Anatole was mad. There was no doubting it. He could
appear as a quiet, unassuming presence, or whirl off like a
dervish, eyes widening to the whites and beyond, lips
pulled back into a feral snarl and words hurled to the heavens and the earth in random patterns that were never truly
random. For the most part he was lucid, and Lucita had
come to learn his ways, accepting the moments that
seemed meaningless in return for those where he saw to
the center of her heart and held it out for her to examine.
Less than ten years ago, when she was barely a fledgling,
the two of them had traveled through Hungary and
Transylvania, and their bond was forged by their experiences there.
Even more than in those years, Anatole’s was now a
dark vision. He hunted like a wild animal, feeding and
destroying what stood in his path, but his was a controlled
fury, for all of that. His beliefs were deep, and those who
followed him were held to his own standard.
“Who is driving?”she asked, as they descended the
stairs. “I don’t want anyone who will cause a scene. This
is to be a quiet visit. As little stir as possible. I need to
know what is going on in the camp. Rumor has it that,
though it seems to be the same place it was a year or two
ago-tents, shacks, unorganized and filled with fanaticsit has stretched new roots into Adrianople itself. I need to
know who is there, who has departed the city and who
will stay. I need to know who has wandered in from the
David Niall Wilson
19
east or west, what they are doing and saying, and who is
listening. In short.. .”
“You need to be their Goddess,” Anatole finished.
Lucita felt the smirk soaking through his robes.
“You blaspheme, Anatole,” she replied, trying for a
harsh tone that did not quite succeed. More softly she
added, “I need to be everyone’s Goddess, but that is a
matter we can discuss on the road. I need information. I
need to know the lay of the land, SO to speak, before I can
own it.”
This time there was no mistaking Anatole’s chuckle.
‘‘I have good men to drive us, child,” he said in his soft,
melodious voice. “We know the roads, and they can drive
through day and night. We are less likely to attract attention this way, than if we risked using the inns and relays.
The last leg, the two of us will take alone. Others will be
with us, near enough if we need them, but in the shadows.
None will see them as we pass. The Roman road is not
what it once was, and no shadow is exactly as it seems.
Best to make as small a ripple in the darkness as possible,
and concentrate on the journey’s end.”
Lucita laughed. “Doesthe journey ever really end?Power
shifts, patterns rearrange, and nothing really changes.”
“We have several nights in which do little else but
discuss such things,” answered Anatole.
The two continued in silence, making their way to
the lower levels and through the door leading to the
stable and the street beyond without further conversation. The city, and the night, awaited them, pregnant
with possibilities.
20
Lasombra
Chapter Two
Their fifth night on the road was still young when
the lights of the camp at Adrianople came into view.
They’d turned from the main Byzantium-Adrianopleroad
soon after dusk and Lucita now sat beside Anatole, her
cloak pulled about her to mask her features and to disguise her slight, girlish figure. She swept the landscape,
eyes dark with concentration, as they passed, alert for anything out of the ordinary. The roads had not been safe
since Constantinople had fallen and there seemed to be a
constant effort to take Adrianople as well. Though she
and Anatole were both well-able to protect themselves,
Lucita had no time for foolishness.
They passed a few straggling bands of refugees, either
coming or going, but few eyes rose from the road to mark
the progress of their carriage. The steps of those they passed
were slow and weary, and they showed the cowed obeisance of those long accustomed to punishment. If they
did not acknowledge her, they had less chance of offending her. Lucita frowned at the irony of it. Many of those
they passed were damned, yet they moved and walked
without purpose. They were defeated, only looking for a
hole to crawl into, and it angered her to think of all that
had been lost.
Of course, i t was not all a loss. T h e fall of
Constantinople and its ancient vampiric master Michael
were not considered a bad thing in all circles, and Lucita
was quick to see the advantagesthe current chaos offered.
Over the past two years, things had shifted again and again,
among mortals and undead alike. The Cainite Heresy was
growing in power and support, though the more orthodox
were reluctant to give ground. MonGada had made his own
wishes clear-but there was always room for innovation.
Difficult times call for creative politics.
David Niall Wilson
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21
It was unlikely that her sire would soon fall under
the sway of the heresy. The notion that history was
falsely recorded, and that Christ was actually Caine was
not an easy one to swallow, even in light of the belief
that this made Cainites superior. Besides, even those
who claimed full belief in the heresy seemed, at times,
less than sincere.
Rumors had reached the city from the camps that
worried her more than any direct threat to the orthodoxy.
There were reports of sightings in and near the camp,
Caine, Lazarus, the insane Nosferatu doomsayer Kli
Kodesh, even dark Calomena, Caine’s sister, were claimed
to either walk the streets or enter the dreams of those
present. Rumors of Calomena were especially strong these
nights. Reportedly she called from the depth of the night,
whispering that the time had come to drive back her
brother’s followers and claim the foundations of the new
dream in her name.
Lucita did not believe in these visions. Not directly.
Despite her associations with holy men of all sorts, she’d
not received any grand revelations. I t was much easier to
believe that there were those who used such storiesto their
own ends. She would have no qualms about spreadingsuch
a rumor, if there were something she might gain from the
deception. The present whirlwind of belief and legend,
fiery fanaticism and desperate defeat was a challenge. She
saw it as a puzzle to be laid out, considered, and pieced
together as she wished.
Anatole did not speak as he directed the horses past
dark structures that no longer held the living or the
damned, the rubble and ruin of huts and larger dwellings,
the skeletal remains of what had once been a bright, cheerful inn. A stable, the fence fallen and broken, its gates
swinging on shattered hinges and dust blowing across dead
grass where nothing grazed.
22
Lasornbra
The camps were worse than she had feared. She had
not been here since May of 1204,when Hugh of Clairvaux,
a zealous vampire in Templar’s tabard, had stirred up the
refugees with word of a crusade into Egypt. She’d seen
that one destroyed by the Assamites, vampiric warriors
from the lands of Islam. Assamites were not unknown to
Lucita. Many of their number fought hard in Iberia to push
back the Christian Kingdoms of the north, including her
beloved Aragon. She knew well the danger they could
pose. Still, Sir Hugh’s destruction had been masterful, carried out at the peak of his power, when he was ready to
launch his crusade of loyal templars and lost Greek vampires. Seeing him fall had stolen all the wind from the
crusade’s sails, sending his followers back to Adrianople
to await their next savior. She’d even heard that some of
them claimed he would rise from his scattered ashes and
lead them again.
Lucita told herself that some night she would have
to find the Assamite who had engineered this masterstroke.
A warrior of that caliber could teach her a great deal. That
was a matter for another time, however.
Finally Lucita turned to her companion. “DO you
think there is truth to what they say?”she asked softly.
“DOyou believe that Caine himself might have come
among us?”
Anatole did not look at her when he answered. He
concentrated on the reins in his hands and the steady
clatter of wheels and hooves on the road rolling away
beneath them.
“The Dark Father is mysterious in His ways,” he said
quietly, “but I doubt revelations that do not lead to action.
And the stories claim any number of messiahs wander the
night. If you were Caine, would you come to Adrianople?”
Lucita laughed at that. “If I didn’t have pressing business, I wouldn’t go there now,” she answered. “What about
the b a c o n ? Or even Malachite? I won’t be surprised if I
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23
hear that Jesus and the Holy Mother are walking the streets
at night, looking for the two lost thieves to drag their souls
back to heaven.”
“Rumors are always with us,” Anatole answered
dismissively. “I will admit that the idea of meeting any
of those you’ve mentioned on the road at night is intriguing, but until that happens, I’ll spend my energy on
the moment.”
He shifted topics. “Monqada will not be pleased that
you sent Lord Brexiano,” he intoned solemnly. “He will
wonder what you are up to, and why you don’t come to
him. He will wonder if he has made a poor choice in trusting you, and Brexiano will be quick to fan the flames of
doubt. It might even be that it would have been wiser to
kill him and send the body back with your deepest sorrow
as a guide.”
“My actions will answer for me,” she replied.
“Brexiano is a fool, and Monqada knows this as well as I
do. He will see through the surface of my actions and understand the truth. There is only one he can trust to watch
over his interests in Constantinople as she rises from the
dust, and that one is certainly not Tommaso Brexiano.
The rubble he left behind him will haunt his steps. The
city burned two years ago. He should be among its lords
by now.”
Anatole grew silent again, and Lucita watched him
for a while. His long, thin blonde hair was escaping the
cowl of his robes, blowing about his head in the breeze
like gold tassels. His mind seemed miles away, yet she knew
he was acutely aware of all that surrounded them. She
wondered if the others could sense it as well, the touch of
his mind.
They were nearing the outskirts of the camp proper.
Low slung tents lined the sides of the road. Many buildings, half-destroyed or crumbling with the weight of years
had been fashioned into makeshift lean-tos. Eyes marked
24
Lasombra
their progress as they passed. Nothing stirred. Have they
done nothing, Lucita thought, since Hugh’s downfall. But
mortal armies had been over this ground many times, the
city besieged again and again, so no existence here could
be permanent.
The camp was strung out along the outer walls of
Adrianople, divided by powers that slunk here and there,
coaxing new followers from those who joined the exodus
from Constantinople. It had begun further from the city,
and once the sieges lifted, migrated inward, drawn by the
need to feed, and the instinct to rebuild whatever life was
most comfortable, or profitable.
Groups whose leadership was intact were the most
vocal, but there were others. Obscure sects and dangerous
pockets of death and destruction stained the streets and
alleys. There were social structures, but these were precarious. Temples had risen in warehouses and barns, and
the churches of the shantytown teemed with those of every belief and dream. The streets were lined with those
whose dreams had been shattered, and could not be retrieved. Much like the Latin Quarter, the camp was both
a reality and a facade covering deeper truths.
The carriage rolled steadily through the outskirts and
closer to the city, where the buildings rose a little taller,
with a sensation of semi-permanence. The streets there
were more forbidding, and the shadows deeper. They passed
a low-slung structure that served as a church, walls of piled
white stone capturing the glow of the nearly full moon in
brilliant contrast to the deep shadows of the surrounding
streets. There were few torches, fewer still of the dwellings they passed showed candles, or lamps lit. They might
as well have been walking through a mist that gave only
the impression of civilization.
Further in,rhe glow was brighter. There were neutral
grounds in the camp, there had to be. In such a tight group
of the damned, thrown together by shared tragedy, the
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25
rules shifted slightly. Belief systems were bent and ideals
were ground to dust. Greed would force some to try and
profit from the gatherings and hungers of the lost.
From the darkness to their right, a lumbering figure
staggered to the street. He reached out as the carriage
passed. Lucita glanced down and caught the gaze of yellowed, rheumy eyes. Lips parted, the ghoul favored her
with a smile that more closely resembled a crooked smirk
and reached out, trying to grip the side of the carriage as
it passed.
With a grimace of disgust, Lucita lashed out, her
booted foot crashing into the thing’s face and pounded it
back and away from the carriage as it passed. She did not
look back to see the result of her blow. She had felt the
satisfying crunch of bone.
“What do you suppose he wanted?” Anatole almost
chuckled.
‘‘I thought you were known,” she replied. “Isn’t that
what you said?Less trouble?”
Anatole’s smile widened. “You should see the trouble
we’d have if they didn’t know me.”
Lucita shook her head, managing not to smile, but
barely. The camp was depressing, and that aided her efforts. So little had changed since the immediate aftermath
of the crusade. For so many, of such power, to have come
to this. They rolled on a few more minutes in silence, and
Anatole pulled the carriage up beside a tent that was less
frayed than the others. They dropped easily to the ground
and stood for a moment, staring. The doorway was hung
with dark curtains. Several layers, Lucita thought. The
daylight would be blocked quite thoroughly, and she suspected that there would be tunnels, holes leading down
and back into the walls of the city itself. The appearance
of poverty was often a powerful shield.
“You’re sure this is the right place?” she asked, still
not moving closer to the tent.
26
Lasom bra
Anatole nodded. “I have been here before. Many times.”
She didn’t dwell on his answer. The fact he had been
conferring with others who might or might not share her
best interests was a matter for another time and place.
Tonight, she had a mission to fulfill; and she needed the
Malkavian by her side. Even with Anatole’s assistance,
the night would have its dangers.
Behind them figures melted from the darkness to take
the dropped reins of the carriage. The horses shied, then
settled, and Lucita felt the ground shake slightly as they
reared and stomped in distrust.
Anatole stepped forward and reached out for the canvas, but before he could touch it, it was pushed aside from
within. A long, slender arm stretched from the interior of
the tent, gnarled fingers beckoning them to enter.
Lucita glanced at Anatole, then stepped forward into
the darkness.
The interior of the tent belied its outer appearance.
Tapestries lined the walls, adding to the ambiance, and at
the same time insulating further against the heat and sun
of the day. They moved inward, passing one, then another
screen, as the space around them shrank, and the layers of
material increased.
They ended in a hallway, still moving forward, and
Lucita realized suddenly that they were within the great
stone wall circling the city. Or beneath it. There had been
a subtle slope to the floor when they entered the tent, but
now it was more pronounced, leading downward.
Their guide remained silent, and neither Lucita nor
Anatole pressed him--or her-for speech. They were not
here to deal with an underling, and it was either a very
good sign, or a very bad one, that they were not being
addressed at this point, but simply led inward.
Marcus Licinius, the Roman-era Lasombra who’d
made Adrianople his domain, still ruled the night here.
Although he did not affect the Christian dogma of
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27
Monqada or Anatole, he considered the Cainite Heresy a
danger as well and was a respected elder of the clan. Lucita
guessed that as the refugees remained after Sir Hugh's
death, Prince Licinius and his circle had had stretched
out their influence. A skilled leader was never stagnant.
In the nights before the crusade came to
Constantinople, there had been Lasombra who used the
Orthodox Church as Monfada did the Roman Church.
Under the patronage of the Toreador MethuselahMichael,
the Lasombra Magnus had sat like a spider in the center
of a holy web. Now, Magnus was destroyed and the heretics under Bishop Alfonzo had grown fat on the great
city. Rumors were, however, that Lasombra from other
Orthodox cities were slipping into the region, seeking
shelter with princes like Licinius.
Orthodox Lasombra were seeing the very roots of
their belief in jeopardy-and so they had come. Beneath
the walls, it seemed, and of course, by other means,
steadily working their way into the society of the camp,
listening, learning, and bending those who could be bent
back to the truth. Lucita was an expert at such bending.
It was a shame they so often broke, but such were the
pains of true faith.
MonGada had given her letters, and he had spoken
with those in Madrid, who had spoken with those in Rome,
and in Constantinople herself before the fall. In turn, the
clan elders in Adrianople were aware of her presence. They
had not sent word to her, nor had they welcomed her upon
her arrival. There had been only silence. Still, she knew
that they would support her, at least on the surface. Archbishop Monqada was a dangerous enemy, and it was
well-known that he favored Lucita above most others of
his followers.
Now there were powers moving in the ruined streets
of Constantinople, as well. The Lasombra orthodoxy was
only one faction flexing broken muscles and preparing for
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Lasorn bra
the world to come, and Lucita knew she would need the
resources and contacts that Prince Licinius and his guests
could provide. She was, to put it shortly, going to have to
rely on MonGada’s influence and the fear of his anger to
get her in the door. Beyond the door, she was on her own,
and that door now stood about six feet in front of her.
Solid wood, embedded in stone, the door was ludicrous in the face of the tent and its layered descent. It
would have been appropriate if the door had opened into
Hell itself, or some deep, subterranean vault. I t did not.
Their guide reached out a withered, bony hand and
rapped on the wood in a short rhythm that must have
been a code. Lucita tried to catch it, but hadn’t been
prepared or paying enough attention, and it slipped away.
She glanced-atAnatole, but his features gave away nothing. No way to know if he’d caught the password, or even
already known it.
There was an extended silence after the knock, then
a heavy grating sound as wood scraped on stone. The door
swung open, and Lucita saw that beyond it was a stairway,
wide stone steps leading steeply upward. So they were either beyond the wall, or somewhere just past the center,
moving upward to the far side.
The trio mounted the steps in silence. It wasn’t a long
climb, and Lucita noted that there were no torches. There
were no sconces for lighting, indicating that whoever had
designed this entrance had not designed it with mortals
in mind. This was not, then, an entrance for ghouls, or
sewants, but only the damned. It was a secret, and knowing another’s secrets always came with a price.
Anatole had moved closer, matching her step for step,
half a pace behind. Lucita didn’t know if he sensed something she’d missed, or if he was concerning himself with
appearances. The monk was still a mystery to her after
years of association-he was never the same twice, but
eternally unchanged.
David Niall Wilson
29
They rose quickly, and it was not long before they
reached another doorway. This was a double door, and
the wood stretched up and up, showing that the ceiling
of the stairwell, lost in shadow, was much grander than
she had first imagined. They seemed to have moved from
the tunnel they had climbed through into a room where
the stairs continued, as if they’d burst through into another world.
The doors opened slowly as they approached. Lucita
found herself wondering who had opened the wooden door
below, and who opened these now. There had been no
sign of another on the stairs, and though she stretched
her senses, she could detect no sound or motion now, other
than that of the doors. She knew it was a calculated effect, one that was supposed to put her at a disadvantage.
She steeled her gaze and moved through the doors as
though she were returning to her own home after a long
journey. As Anatole passed through behind her, their guide
dropped back, turning to close the doors behind them.
They continued, and he did not follow.
They had entered a large chamber. Marble floors glittered with pools of deep color as moonlight filtered in
through massive stained-glass windows. Columns rose to
impossible heights around them. This church was grand.
An empty cathedral. Silent save for the soft echoes of their
footsteps. Entering that chamber, Lucita stopped and
cocked her head to one side, as if curious. Anatole stopped
at her heels.
As they waited, a sound rose from the shadows. Then,
the shadows themselves began to whirl, slowly circling
the room, rising and thickening, until they spun like a
shroud about the interior of the room. The whisper of silk.
The flutter a thousand moths’ wings. Lucita glanced to
the side, but realized at that moment the sound came not
from one side, but from all sides. The soft scuff of slippered
feet. The shadows parted to either side, then fell away
30
Lasorn bra
suddenly, and from the comers of the huge room, where
the shadows had retreated, a large circle of stoic, silent
figures stepped forward. The circle was before them and
now behind them, complete on all sides. There was no
way to move from the chamber without crossing that line,
and the thought of doing so set Lucita’s nerves on edge.
She wasn’t frightened. Never that. Whoever, or whatever, they were, she would find a way to pass. They were
shadows, and shadows could be parted. She was, after all,
Lasombra. And there was Anatole to consider. He hadn’t
survived across so many years to be penned in like a sheep
at the end. So the circle wasn’t meant to imprison. I t was
meant to impress. It was meant to underline the power of
whoever would enter next.
There wasn’t long to wait to fill in that name. The
circle parted, just for an instant, at a point to Lucita’s left.
Beyond that point, another hall stretched away, and from
that hall a bearded man, robed in deep scarlet stepped
free. He stood there, just for an instant, and the wan light
striking him dimmed and faded. His scarlet robes passed
to deepest black and his flesh joined suit. Then he floeoed
onto the floor, his flesh and bone transformed to an animate pool of shadow. This tenebrous form slithered along
the flagstones and up the pillars of the cathedral and vanished into the deep gloom of the unseen ceiling. Lucita
had a barely conscious sense of this powerful thing slipping over and behind her and she tumed around to see it
slip down another pillar and run along the seems between
the stones under her feet. An instant, the shadow-stuff
puffed upward and reassumed the shape of a man, gazing
at Lucita and Anatole with cool arrogance. His robes were
cut as a Greek bishop’s were.
“Your lordship,” Lucita said in her accented Greek.
She and Anatole had passed through Sofia ten years ago,
but only briefly paid homage to its powerful prince, Basilio
the Elder. Still, she recognized him instantly. His vest-
David Niall Wilson
31
ments had taken on an even stronger religious tone, but
his austere, patrician’s face was the same, with the noble
profile of the born aristocrat. He had deep, penetrating
eyes, and his presence seemed to remove every ounce of
heat in the vast chamber. Basilio should not have been
there. Not in Adrianople. Yet there he was.
“You are a long way from Aragon, child,” the elder
Lasombra said without wasted time or words. “And from
Madrid.”
“It is a big world, milord,” Lucita answered, carefully
watching Basilio’s approach, “but my sire’s arms are long.
I have wished for many years to meet with you again, but
I assumed that meeting would take place in your own city.”
Basilio smiled thinly, but the expressionconveyed no
mirth. “Sofia is the least of my worries in these times,” he
replied. “My concern is with the capital, and the heretics
and Latins within in. It is a time to take and hold things,
or to have them wrenched from our grasp and never returned. You were in Constantinople at the fall.” He did
not ask this, it was a statement. “You know that it was not
supposed to be allowed. Things change. The strong
weaken, and others step forth to claim their birthright.”
“The strong remain strong,”Lucita said coldly. “That
the city of dreams has fallen is troubling, but not an end
unto itself. I have come to seek counsel,” she hesitated
before continuing, “though I had no idea so powerful a
leader as yourself would be present.”
“I come, and I go,” Basilio said dryly, “in many places.
Prince Licinius and I will not allow heresy to take root
inside the city walls, and that camp can be managed as
well. The Bulgar banners have flown over the city since
last April and Tsar Kaloyan is not through. He can be
pointed at the camps, or Byzantium proper.”
“Managing kings and crusaders has proven difficult
in these nights, my lord,” she said. “My erstwhile ally,
Tommaso Brexiano had thought he could direct the Crusade. Hugh of Clairvaux had similar dreams.”
32
Lasombra
“The Bulgar tsar is open to counsel, child, and it is
obvious that he has the ability and strength at arms to
extend his influence. And, of course, if he extends his
influence, he extends mine as well. Ours.”
The correction was late-and telling.
Lucita remained silent for a moment, then continued as if she’d noticed nothing. “Things are not as they
once were in Constantinople,” she began. “You know this,
of course, but the thing that troubles me is that our mutual enemies -the Cainite Heretics who are like a pox
on our clan-grow in strength with each passing day. Very
little harm came to those in the Latin quarter, and Bishop
Alfonzo stretches his influence daily. Others have darker
motives, wanting only destruction and chaos, and they
flourish as well. It is a very difficult time, and I believe
that we must act quickly.”
“What does Monfada say?”Basilio asked with interest.
“I have heard nothing detailed from Madrid,” she
answered carefully. ‘‘I act in Monqada’s interest, and he
wishes the Heresy stymied here. Brexiano thought only
to weaken various players, but that is a fool’s agenda. Without more decisive action, the city will fall to the Heresy,
or worse, and there will be nothing left for us here.”
Basilio smiled at her in a manner that showed he did
not share her pessimism. Bulgaria was another world from
the Byzantine. Still, he was a powerful leader, respected
.
by her sire. Lucita waited quietly.
“You want to know how you can push back heresy in
a city trapped in its own death throes, how to bring the
truth to those who seek only to bring the world to flames.”
Lucita remained silent. Basilio was playing her, waiting to see if any of his words would bait her into a hasty
comment, or a denial. She did not play.
“You say,” he said at last, “that the bishop Alfonzo
grows in strength. Do you believe he will stretch his influence beyond the Latin Quarter?”
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33
Lucita thought for a moment, then nodded. “If not
checked, he will certainly increase his power,” she said.
“That, or he will be killed.”
“Alfonzo is of our blood,” Basilio commented. “He is
powerful, and he is Lasombra. Do you believe it is in your
best interests to hinder his growth?”
Lucita’s answer was swift. “Alfonzo is a heretic,“ she
almost spat. “Monqadadespises him, and all he stands for.
Narses has him on a puppet string, and he plays his part
almost too well.”
The elder Lasombra smiled, and the smile was deep
and dark. “Narses may have made him, but Narses is not
here. He is not as close as you or I, and he can only wield
so much influence in a situation like this. For example,
you speak to me of power and of intrigue, but you speak
far from the lips or ears of Monqada.”
‘‘I support Archbishop MonGada in all things,” Lucita
snapped, her eyes blazing.
Basilio was not impressed. “You speak for yourself.
Monqada will benefit from what you do, of that I have no
doubt, but do not speak to me of loyalty. You would not be
speaking to me if you believed the only counsel that mattered came from Madrid.”
Lucita said nothing, and Basilio continued.
“You must find a way to sway Alfonzo,” he said at
last. “He is the key. Of our kind, he is the most powerful
in the city, and it is far easier to bolster the support of one
in power than it is to bring another from the dust. You
must find a way to drive the Heresy from his mind and
drag him back into the fold. The Friends of the Night are
not without power and influence. Narses may not seem as
tempting a guide with you close at Alfonzo’s side.”
Lucita considered the elder’s counsel in silence. There
was an odd harmony to it, as if it had found some spark in
her own mind she’d been ignoring and fanned it to flame.
Turning, Lucita drew Anatole into the conversation with
a glance.
34
Lasombra
“What do you think?” she asked him.
Anatole did not meet her gaze, nor did he meet that
of Basilio, who was eyeing him keenly. He stared into the
depths of the church, then at one of the circle of Basilio’s
shadowy followers. It seemed, at first, that he would ignore her question, but just as she began to lose patience,
he spoke.
“There is truth in your words,” he said at last, turning
to Basilio. “You would take control of Constantinople if
you could, and you still may-time is a fickle mistress.
Still, I believe you would see the clan orthodoxy regain
control. Alfonzo has been a puppet for long years, and
more than one master can manipulate the strings of a puppet. The key, of course, is in getting him to believe it is in
his own interests.”
“There will be opposition,” Lucita mused. “Alfonzo
is strong, but he is neither the only power in the city nor
the oldest. There are others, even among our own blood,
who will contest any move to assume power.”
“What is life without its contests?”Anatole said softlq.
“What is death without companionship?What is the value
of anything gained too easily?”
Basilio was staring at Anatole, his eyes warring between confusion and anger. “You are never without your
riddles, Malkavian,” he said at last. “But it is another
truth you speak. Does the Bible not teach that there will
be trials?Persecution. It would not be the first war fought
in God’s name, and certainly it will not be the last. If
you want to hold sway over others, you have to be willing to exert your hold on them. You have to be willing
to watch the final death steal over their features. You
have to be strong.”
“Never doubt that I am, milord,” Lucita said softly.
“Nor should you doubt my sire. Don’t let your own strength
cloud your sense.”
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35
“You would threaten me?”The elder asked, his voice
very low, his expression unreadable. He stared at Lucita,
ignoring Anatole completely.
“NO,”Lucita replied, “but I would not fear you either. I came to you for counsel, not to threaten or be
threatened. I ask only the same consideration.”
Basilio watched her for a sign of weakness, or treachery. Lucita met that gaze with a haughty pride. It was the
elder who broke the contact with a wave of his arm. The
shadow-figures that circled them, silent and stoic, began
to move again, backing away and seeming to grow toward
the walls and the vaulted ceiling far above.
“Go, then,” Basilio said. He moved backward, but
he did not seem to be taking steps. It was as if the space
that Lucita and Anatole occupied was retreating from
the old Lasombra,rather than the other way around. The
voice that floated to them whispered like wind over
crackling parchment.
“Find Alfonzo. He is the key.”
Then a deeper darkness descended. Lucita turned to
Anatole, who stood silently by her side. He did not seem
affected by Basilio’s sudden departure. He gazed into the
depths of the chamber, as he had done before, expressionless and centered. There was a soft thud to their right,
then another.. . and another. One by one Anatole’s followers dropped silently to the cathedral floor.
Lucita watched, not truly surprised, but curious.
“HOWdid they get in?”she asked softly. “And, more
to the point, old friend, how do we get out?”
Anatole did not answer, but he smiled, turning back
the way they’d come.
The slender, robed figure that had guided them beneath the wall stood a few feet behind the pair, waiting.
Eyes like glowing coals watched from beneath that hood
as the others gathered around, slipping in behind Lucita
and Anatole.
36
Lasombra
Without a word, he turned and stepped back into
the shadows. Mind whirling with plans and possibilities,
Lucita followed.
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37
Chapter Three
Vast walls rose against a darkened sky, stark and angry. Alfonzo’s mansion, very nearly a palace by standards
beyond the city, was a marvel. There were gardens hidden
in shadowed alcoves, dark terraces overlookingevery angle
of the city, and towers stretching like dark fingers into a
sky filled with stars.
When it was lit up, as it was this night, the dancing
candle light and raucous music and laughter made the
palace into a giant version of some child’s music box gone
mad. There were battlements, as if it were a castle, though
the appearance from the street was deceptive. The design
of the building made it largely indefensible. It was not
designed for war, but as a wonderland of debauchery.
Alfonzo stood on one of the balconies, the music floating out beneath him and wafting up to tease at his senses.
His hair blew gently in the night wind, and the moon had
risen to her full stature in the midnight sky. O n the lower
floor of his estate, a party awaited. There would be dancing, music, and-entertainment. Alfonzo had seen to this
himself, because it was an important night. There were a
great number of influential guests milling about his lower
levels, a few who might actually be dangerous, if not
watched carefully.
Something was in the wind. He couldn’t put a finger
on it, but his senses were keen, and he could feel it. Glancing out over the Latin Quarter, his personal kingdom, he
sensed it even more strongly. There were forces moving
over the city, through the alleys and down the grand roads.
The vampiric lords who’d come with the Crusade-the
Ventrue Lanzo von Sachsen and Caesar Valerian, his own
clanmate Tommaso Brexiano-were at last withdrawing,
but now there was the danger that some other Cainite
would rise up from the ruins and try to proclaim some sort
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of dark new Byzantium grew more intense. That wretch
Malachite was still out there somewhere,searching for the
ancient Dracon to be his new patriarch.
Alfonzo fixed his gaze on the starry sky above as
though waiting for a sign. When nothing was forthcoming, he turned his gaze to the city gate, not far down the
road. There was movement-a carriage returning to the
city. He stared at it for a moment, then spun away. It was
too far to make out a face, but something itched at the
back of his thoughts. It wasn’t a night for such distractions. In the hall below, several powerful leaders awaited
his arrival. It would not do to keep them waiting too long.
*
*
*
The ballroom was filled with motion and color. There
were several local groups in attendance, hanging close to
one another against separate walls and in small cliques.
They were under the peace of Alfonzo’s house, but no one
took that any more seriously than it warranted. In matters
of safety and power, it was best to trust only your own. You
weren’t really safe there, either, but at least you had an
idea from which direction an attack might come.
Alfonzo’s people moved through the crowd, serving
rare delicacies, looking after the needs of the various
groups, and working quickly and silently to prepare the
entertainment to come, careful not to let details slip, or
to give away their master’s secrets. Alfonzo was a showman, and the details of the night’s party had been worked
out long in advance. It was important that they follow his
instructions exactly if they intended to continue their service-or their existence.
The main room was huge, but what the guests only
suspected, or caught hints of, was the vast number of alcoves, rooms, halls and gardens that led off of the central
ballroom. The layout was complex, and it eased the task
of working behind the scenes. It had been designed for a
Byzantine lord, a place his guests could be entertained and
David Niall Wilson
39
his future secured. Over the decades, additions and wings
had been added to the structure by a variety of personalities and architects, and to one not accustomed to the chaos,
it was overwhelming. Alfonzo had relieved the man of
both home and life just after the city had begun to crumble.
He’d had his eye on the place long before, but the attacks
on the city gave him the opportunity he needed to act
without fear of calling too much attention. If friends of
the deceased owner came to call, they were turned away
with stories of flight or death. If they persisted, they became the main course at the next feast, and were not heard
from again in the hours of daylight. Not many had come,
after the first week or so.
To one side of the ballroom, Gabriella of Genoa stood
calmly, surrounded by a large entourage of Genoese and
locals. She watched everything in the room with distrust.
She did not take the offered refreshments, though she allowed those who accompanied her to do so, and she did
her best to ignore the music and the servantsbustling about
their chores.
Gabriella had the air of one held against her will, as
if her presence were not a voluntary thing, but an obligation. She appeared ready for the end of festivities that
had yet to begin. She also appeared considerably less than
comfortable with the others who were present. Her gaze
swept the room constantly, never lingering on any one
guest or object.
The vampires of the Toreador clan, inheritors of the
felled patriarch Michael, had for the most part, declined
the invitation, with the exception of a small group of
musicians that had been sent as a token of their esteem.
Alfonzo was far too canny to believe they held him in
much esteem, but the music was superb, better than any
that his own people might have provided, and he’d accepted the offer graciously. He’d set two of his followers
to watch the group, keeping an eye not only on what
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they did, but also on who they spoke with, and what
they watched. They were spies, as well as musicians, and
it might come in handy before the evening was over to
provide them with a few selected events to report back
to their leaders.
“Alwaysshow them what they expect to see, but never
show them what they need to see,” Alfonzo was fond of
saying. “It is one thing to allow a spy into your home. It is
expected. The trick is to manipulate what is spied upon.
Disinformation in the hands of your enemy is sometimes
more valuable than their ignorance could ever be.”
Myca Vykos had been invited, but in his stead had
sent a few retainers and his apologies. The Tzimisce monk
kept largely to himself, supposedly seeing to the reconstruction of the Obertus monastic order, which had seen
its monastery burned and its leader destroyed during the
city’s collapse. Vykos was a power in Constantinople, however, a sign of the old order rising from the ashes. His
absence tonight was somewhat of a blow to Alfonzo,
though he’d never admit or show it. The Tzimisce’s influence might prove critical in the nights to come.
There were lesser lords too, and also those so unsavory they stood out like blemishes against the brilliantly
colored attire of the main body of guests. These were more
of Alfonzo’s people. They had strayed from their holes and
dens in the Latin Quarter to attend the party. Their presence was a show of power, a way for Alfonzo to let his
guests know that his influence was strong, and his vision
wide. They were here to keep people from quite letting go
of their inhibitions, to keep them on edge as Alfonzo
walked among the crowds, completely at ease. It was an
advantage, however slight, and everyone moving through
the ballroom was looking for an advantage.
While Alfonzo descended the stairs toward his
guests, others moved through one of his exterior gardens, and these were not his followers. Keeping low to
David Niall Wilson
41
the ground and stiding from shadow to shadow, they
moved in toward the building silently. Their cloaks
contrasted with‘the silver glow of moonlight that lit
the approach of midnight. There were three in all, one
taller by a head than his fellows, all moving with the
grace and speed of warriors.
They spoke no words, pressing to the stone wall and
moving stealthily along the edge of the garden. There were
no servants or guests near them, and no one had been set
to watch. It was a night of truce, when many factions that
normally avoided all contact came together, drawn by two
common bonds: curiosity over what Alfonzo might have
up his sleeve and hunger.
The three moving along the base of Bishop Alfonzo’s
wall were not paying any attention to the music from
within. They were focused,synchronizedshadows slipping
from darkened wall to darker alcove, ever watchful for
sentries, or errant guests. Alfonzo had been entrenched in
this place for some time, and there was every indication
that the other factions were respecting this night, in particular, so precautions were at a minimum. Though he
would never have left his home completely defenseless,
neither had he wanted a great show of arms to be the first
sight that met visiting eyes. Better they should wonder
how strong he was, and where his assets were hidden.
There were a few separate apartments around the
perimeter-wall of the mansion. Most were not on the
ground floor, but watched out over the city from balconies and terraces, lit from within and recessed, so that their
inhabitants could easily step onto the wall itself and command a view of the city below, but when in their rooms,
only shadows would be visible beyond the mansion’s walls.
It was beneath one such room that the three stopped,
huddling close against the wall, just inside a small flowered garden niche. They stood like ebon statues in the
shadow, waiting and listening. There was no sound save
that of the musicians from within, and after a few mo-
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ments of absolute motionlessness, the taller of the intruders turned and reached up to the wall, feeling for a grip in
the stone and mortar, and finding it. Without a sound he
drew himself up, pressed tight to the stone wall, like a
great black insect, climbing easily. One after another, the
others followed.
*
*
*
Isadora sat before a grand, gold-leafed and unmirrored
vanity, contemplating her entrance to the party below.
Though still quite young to the night, she was the current
favorite of the house, slender and tall, sharp features and
deep eyes that boredthrough and beyond a person, and a
perpetually bored smirk painted across her lips. It wouldn’t
do for her to be seen milling about with Alfonzo’s lackeys
and lieutenants. Not if she aspired to move up, and that
aspiration was the center of her being.
So, the entrance was important. She could sense
Alfonzo moving about above her, and she knew the moment he turned from the wall and exited his own chambers.
It was nearly time. She would wait until the ripple had
subsided from Alfonzo’s own entrance, and she would follow behind, making her way to his side, and drawing every
eye in the room to her. It was to be an event. Though her
growing relationship with Bishop Alfonzo was important,
he was still a means to an end. If he rose to greater power,
Isadora would be happy to walk that road at his side. If he
faltered, she’d not hesitate to step on his head for a boost
to the next level.
There was a hesitation in the music below, and she
knew that Alfonzo had entered the party. Isadora rose,
whirling once to catch the lamplight on the shimmering
folds of the silk gown she wore, watching as it slipped over
the long curves of her legs and smiling. Isadora had been
twenty-five when she met the darkness, and her muscular
body was that of a dancer. She would attract attention in
almost any crowd. Tonight, she wanted to dazzle.
*
David Niall Wilson
*
*
43
On the wall outside, three sets of strong hands gripped
the railing of Isadora’s balcony. Spider-like,the three figures scuttled to the sides, and up. First one, then another
slidover the balcony to press against the wall. They waited,
one on the rail, two on the balcony, hesitating to be certain they had not been seen or heard. There wasnothing
from within, and the third, the taller leader, dropped lightly
from the railing and crept to where he could glance into
the room.
Isadora stood within, whirling slowly like a dancer
and making her skirts billow. He watched with no indication that the sight affected any particular change in his
emotions. He waited until Isadora turned toward the door
at last, showing him her back, and then he moved. The
others flowed in behind him, and before Isadora was fully
aware that she was not alone, a silver glitter marked the
arc of thin metal chain over her head, and her arms were
gripped tightly, holding her steady.
The first intruder’s arms snapped to either side, and
with a grimace of surprise, her lips parted in a silent “oh,”
Isadora’s head flew neatly from her neck. The two holding the arms of her decapitated body released her, and the
three turned, moving swiftly back to the balcony. It would
not take Alfonzo long to wonder why she hadn’t joined
him. The tallest of the three, the leader, stooped and
gripped Isadora’s hair, lifting her head easily.
His cowl fell back, just for a moment, revealing a
strong, Slavic face framed by wild black hair. His eyes were
piercing, perhaps ice blue, perhaps silver-gray. He gazed
into the lifeless eyes of the head gripped in his hand. Bowing his head, he closed his eyes for a moment, and his lips
moved in silent prayer.
A t that moment, one of his companions turned back
to the body, transfixed. A very slow, tepid flow of dark
blood leaked into the lavishly woven rug. He stared, unable to drag his gaze from the sight. Just for an instant, it
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seemed he might slink back, fall to his knees and drink,
but the leader’s eyes snapped open then. Barking a quick
command, and eyeing his companion coldly, he moved,
trophy in hand, to the rail and slipped over. He descended
the wall as easily with one hand as he had climbed with
two and disappeared into the night.
*
*
*
Alfonzo paused as he entered the ballroom. He sensed
something, a tingling at the nape of his neck. He swept
the room with a searching gaze, but though there were a
dozen in the crowd who would benefit from his own destruction, he did not sense anything out of place. He had
planned for each of those who might wish him harm. He
had been careful.
There were many in the crowd who appeared to be
doing no more than mingling, laughing, serving or dancing, but this was deceptive. He had planted those who
were faithful to him in the crowd, revelers and servants
alike. Everything was watched, but his plan had not allowed for the impression that he was mistrustful, so those
who watched were planted subtly. Still, something did
not feel right, and he entered the room more slowly than
he’d planned.
“Milord,” a young man, dark-complected with a thin
nose and close-set eyes materialized before him.
“Yes, Matteo. What is it?
Others had spotted him and were already in motion,
crossing the room in patterns that led from one small clique
to another, not too obviously moving in on him, but inexorable as a tide.
“The others are all in place,” Matteo said softly. More
loudly he added, “Something to drink, Milord?”
Alfonzo nodded almost imperceptibly. “In a bit. I
believe it is time for me to welcome my guests, and if I
don’t do so quickly, I’ll be hemmed in and trapped in discussions of the city and the new empire for hours.”
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45
Matteo nodded and backed away.
Alfonzo stepped forward, skirting around the boy
and making his way toward the center of the room He
wanted to be on the far side, where a slightly raised space
held a single table with two chairs. A glittering red chalice sat on the table, glistening in harmony with the
brilliant flickers of light reflected by the matching goblets. Alfonzo wanted to reach his seat before anyone
headed him off and tried to divert him down roads he
had no intention of following.
There would be time for speeches and discourses.
There would be time for the rebuilding of the city. This
night was his and the intent was pleasure. His pleasure.
Their pleasure. Pleasure such as had been missing since
the city had been sacked and the damned turned into the
streets and driven to the camps. It was a show of power,
and of understanding. It was a peace offering to many,
and a sign to others that Alfonzowas coming into his own.
The crusaders and leftover Greeks had failed to act in the
interim and it was long past the bishop’s time for watch[ing,or thinking.
Alfonzo also wanted to be seated when Isadora entered the room. She was a prize, a beauty beyond any he’d
known in the long, long years of his existence. As a bishop
in this city, he was her master. In public, she was his student and most ardent supporter. In reality-understood
by all-she was simply his. Isadora was a headstrong, conniving, multi-faceted companion who kept him watching
his back. This was a talent one honed at every opportunity, and with Isadora, the benefits of such an arrangement
far outshone the possible dangers. In her own way, she
cared about him, but Alfonzo wasn’t naive enough to believe that this caring outweighed her own ambitions.
Her ties to the elders in Rome were strong. Combined with his own roots, that made them a formidable
pair when they were on the same page. Of course, he
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couldn’tlet on to his own people know that she was linked
to the Lasombra in Rome-no more than Isadora could
let her own people know of her arrangementwith Alfonzo
himself. His roots in Venice were well known, and there .
was no love lost between the nvo cities. Right now, Alfonzo
was thinking only of the two of them, seated at the raised
table and sipping slowly at deep red wine, laced with the
blood of a young girl harvested that very afternoon.
Somehow, with a grin and a shrug or two, Alfonzo
navigated the teeming masses spread across the room and
mounted the steps to his table. He smiled as his foot landed
on the first step. Nearly there. Nearly perfect. So much
was riding on this night. His reactions to every conversation would be measured, his words would be sifted and
judged. For days and nights his name would be on every
lip. It had to be perfect.
He found himself wishing that Isadora would hurry.
He had made it to the table unmolested, but he could not
put his guests off indefinitely, and he preferred to meet
them with her on his arm. She was the perfect accessorythe perfect partner. Young, yes, but wise beyond her years.
It would not do for any, Alfonzo included, to underestimate her.
He glanced at the stairs, frowned, and leaned down
to catch Matteo’s attention as he passed with another tray
of drinks.
“Has anyone seen Isadora?”he asked under his breath.
“She should be here by now. We can’t keep them waiting
all night.”
Matteo glanced around the room.“I haven’t seen her,”
the young man said uneasily. “I expected her to follow
you down.”
“As did I,” Alfonzo replied, eyes narrowing. “Go to
her quarters. Find out what is taking her so long and get
her down here. I will do what I can to divert my guests
until she arrives.”
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47
He hesitated, then continued. ‘‘I don’t need to tell
you, Matteo, what this night means to me. I should not
have to tell her either. Make certain that she is swift.”
Matteo nodded and ducked away into the crowd.
Somehow,he did not spill the drinks balanced on his tray,
or collide with any of the milling guests moving ever closer
to Alfonzo’s table. The only thing that prevented him from
being suddenly overrun by the crowd was the raised platform, and the frown knitting his brow. It was only a matter
of time.
Across the room, Gabriella stood to the side of a wide
window, overlooking the city. She watched him carefully,
not exactly staring, but never concentrating her gaze too
far to one side or the other. The musicians were in full
swing. Since Alfonzo had entered the ball room, the pace
had speeded, reaching a frenzied pitch, then dying back
to a steady backbeat.
The music was contemporary, but there was more to
it than that. It had a manic quality, as if there were something behind the notes, lurking and waiting to strike.
Alfonzo shook his head and swept the room with a lingering gaze, memorizing faces and locations, mapping out his
route through the crowd. There were a great number of
people to be spoken too, some to placate, others to feel
out on certain issues. Still others had been invited solely
to allow them to see Alfonzo’s strength. The entirety of it
was intricate, and his mind shifted quickly about the room,
trailing his gaze and filing away information.
Suddenly,there was a commotion at the stairway, and
Alfonzo turned. Matteo had reappeared, crashing into the
crowd and rushing toward the main table. Alfonzo set his
glass on the table, half-rising, eyes blazing. The crowd had
parted, and Matteo staggered toward him. Things were
falling apart, somehow. Something was wrong.
When Matteo crashed against the pladorm at his feet,
Alfonzo leaned suddenly, so quickly he did not seem to
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move at all, but to materialize a few feet in front of where
he’d been sitting. He had Matteo by the hair, lifting his
servant’sface to meet his gaze.
“You little fool,” he said softly. “What are you doing?
Where is Isadora?I set you a simple task, and you.. .”
Matteo’s eyes were clear and wide. Too wide.
“She.. .” His voice choked off. His eyes closed.
Alfonzo gripped Matteo’s hair more tightly and snarled,
shaking the boy roughly.
“What,” he snarled. “What?Where is she?”
Matteo gulped, blinked, and spat the words too
quickly. His eyes remained closed, his back arched, as if
he expected Alfonzo’s reaction to be swift, and deadly. As
if the words he spoke would be his last.
“She is dead, Lord,” Matteo breathed softly. “Her
body.. . most of her body.. . is on the floor of her quarters.
Her head.. .”
Alfonzo didn’t wait to hear more. He released Matteo,
and the boy fell, suddenly bereft of support, striking his
head sharply on the stone floor. Alfonzo had leaped over
him, hitting the floor at a dead run and making his way
through the now humming crowd like a bull, pushing
guests to either side with such strength that they fell and
crashed through whomever stood near them. Drinks
splashed and voices raised, cursing and crying out. Alfonzo
saw and heard nothing.
He hit the stairs so quickly that it seemed he sacat
the table one second and had disappeared the next. Those
left below watched, dumbstruck, as their host burst from
their midst and disappeared up the stairs.
Alfonzo heard the sounds behind him, the voices,
some crying out, others muttering but none of it was sinking in. His mind was filled with Matteo’s voice-his words:
“Her head.”
Cursing, Alfonzo burst into Isadora’s room, ready not
to believe what he’d heard, what he’d read in Matteo’s
David Niall Wilson
49
glazed eyes. He was ready to berate her, whatever the problem she might be facing, and to drag her down to the
party-his party-to make things right once more. He
opened his mouth to speak-then closed it again. Quickly.
Isadora’s body lay on the floor, already beginning the
slow fall to ash that signaled her final death. The wind
blew softly in from the balcony, and Alfonzo crossed the
room at a run. He stepped onto the terrace, leaning out to
glance down the wall, then stretching his gaze further,
scanning the shadows beyond the building’s base. He
glanced up and down the streets, but nothing moved.
Nothing made a sound.He concentrated, forcing his senses
beyond their normal limits. He could hear voices two
streets away, an argument in an alley-the creak of axles
as a cart passed. Nothing he could equate with the nightmare that shared that room with him. No sign of any who
might have been intruders.
Turning back, Bishop Alfonzo moved to the center of the room where Isadora’s inert, decomposing body
rested. He watched for a moment, something near to
regret showing at the corners of his eyes. Then, without warning, he drew back his leg and lashed out,
kicking the bones of his lover furiously, then again, and
again. He kicked, and he cursed, and he kicked some
more, until her skeleton had begun to bow and crumple.
Then, without a word, he turned and strode from the
room, his face dark.
From the balcony behind him, which was open to
the night sky, a breeze blew in, teasing the soft silk of
Isadora’s tom gown.
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Chapter Four
Alfonzo’s exit from the ballroom had thrown the night
into confusion. The guests were no longer milling about,
but had divided themselves and moved apart defensively.
No one was certain what had taken place, though rumors
began to circulate immediately.
lsadura had left , leaving nothing but a note.
Isadora’selders in Rome had found out about her liaison
and taken measures to prevent its continuation.
It was all a ruse, calculated to catch the guests off guard
in some plan of the bishop’s own creation.
Everything but the truth. Alfonzo strode down the
stairs, steps steady and bold, eyes focused on some point
on the far side of the ballroom. His servants moved aside
as he passed, scurrying into the shadows. Guests parted
slowly, none wanting to fall within his reach. It did not
escape the notice of any that his boots and the lower folds
of his robes were coated in blood, or that he did not appear to acknowledge those he passed.
Alfonzo did not hesitate. As he moved through the
crowd, he seemed to grow taller4arker. His eyes blazed,
and for a moment it was not their elegant host who walked
among them, but a beast, tall and eerily handsome despite the darkness. He mounted the steps to his table once
more, and he whirled.
No one spoke. The musicians were silent. Whispers
slipped softly around the room and died. With a great effort, Alfonzo opened his mouth to speak. He closed it
again, hesitated, then raised his hands. He gestured to the
troupe of players, and his gaze compelled them, one by
one, to grasp their instruments and begin a new melody.
They might have prevented him, but for the moment, no
one was willing to break the spell his mood had cast.
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51
Seating himself without a word, he grabbed the carafe from the table. He reached for one of the crystal
goblets, then thought better of it, swiping both from the
table with a crash of his fist, sending them arcing through
the air, glittering like whirling bits of ice. They shattered on the wall behind him sending sharp shards
scattering across the floor. Alfonzo seemed not to notice. He upended the blood wine, letting the deep red
liquid cascade over his lips, only about half of it reaching its target, the rest pouring over his hands, his face,
his robes. He leaned his head back and poured until there
was nothing left but glittering crystal, and then with an
almost maniacal scream, he held the solid crystal decanter
in trembling hands.
Backdrop to his insanity, the musicians had picked
up a deep resonant dirge. It might have been a staged tragedy, overacted and dark, had it not been for the sudden
wrongness of it all. The overpowering sensation that something had been broken or lost, and that it had nothing to
do with shattered goblets. The music reflected and amplified the shadows that gathered around the bishop, driving
them into the brighter corners of the room to snuff the
light with the finality of the tomb. Had any of the mortals
who knew the bishop only from dark mutterings in the
shadows of confessionals seen him in that moment, they
would have believed themselves tossed into the final days,
facing off with Beelzebub himself.
Alfonzo’s hands pressed together with impossible pressure, so quickly that the motion was a soft blur, and the
crystal exploded. White powder plumed, then fell, capturing torchlight and dusting his body, his legs and the
floor at his feet. The wine and the blood gripped the dust,
clinging to it, making the glitter a part of the whole. There
were cuts on his hands, but Alfonzo ignored them. He
ignored everything, head back, leaning over the back of
his chair like a martyr, transfixed.
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Then, as suddenly as his rage had begun, it ended.
He sat up straight, brushing bits of crystal from his lap
almost absently, and rose unsteadily to his feet. He turned
to the room, noticing for the first time that every eye was
upon him. He felt his clothing matted to his skin, felt the
sharp bitter pain in his hands and the fire burning through
him as the blood wine flooded his system.
He stared at them for what seemed an eternity, neither speaking, nor backing off. Then he turned and glanced
down. Matteo cowered, just to the side of the table in a
small mound of crystal shards, his knees planted in puddles
of spilled wine, shaking like a leaf. The boy was a thrall,
but even the call of the blood could not drive the fear of
what Alfonzo had become, if only for a short moment,
from the front of his mind.
“More wine,” Alfonzo said. He spoke softly, but his
words carried. They echoed through the room, caroming
off the walls and reverberating about the vaulted ceiling
to whisper down the walls and back again. “Bring me more
wine. If we are to have our party,” he continued, “then I
must offer the benediction.”
Motion trickled back into the room. First Matteo
skittered off along the floor, picking his way carefully
through the broken glass and crystal, skittering around
the legs of those guests and servants who stood most closely
to Alfonzo’s table. The moment the young man was beyond the first wall of people, he rose with a choked sob
that echoed through the room and crashed through the
crowds toward the kitchens and wine cellars.
Alfonzo watched him go, marking the boy’s course
through the crowd, fighting desperately against the pounding rate threatening his sanity. Everyone watched him still,
and their very lack of motion added to the surreal impression of moving through a slow-motionworld. The clarity
of the moment was astonishing, worth standing and contemplating, but he knew this was not possible.
David Niall Wilson
53
I
”--
Others were moving now, first Alfonzo’sservants, then
the guests, milling in small circles, whispering among
themselves. Alfonzo knew that he would have to speak
now. He would have to exert every tiny scintilla cf coritrol remaining to him, or all would be ruined and lost. It
might take years, centuries to begin again after what he
had done. This was a defining moment, and his reaction
to it would mark him throughout eternity.
He dosed his eyes for one last moment. He saw Isadora
as he’d last seen her whole-tall, regal, eyes blazing with
inspiration, strength and ambition. He felt the thrill of
her touch, the graze of sharp ivory across his skin, felt the
twining of their bodies-and he clutched those images
tightly. Then, with a great effort, he allowed them to slip
deeper, drawing those images inside and gaining strength
from this until he opened his eyes, and he smiled.
Some were already moving toward the doors, and
Alfonzo held up his arms to quiet them.
“Please,” he said. Again, his voice seemed soft, but it
echoed, slioping in and out of the comers of the room.
“Please allow me to apologize for this interruption. It appears that not all of tonight’s guests were invited. This is a
matter that I must attend to myself, but it need not completely distract us from our time together.
‘‘I must go,” he glanced down at his robes with an
apologetic smile, as if the damage to his clothing, and to
the area near his table, had been the slightest of accidents,
and not the spectacle that would be spoken of in hushed
tones for a hundred nights. ‘‘I must go to my chambers
and make myself presentable once more. There are festivities planned that you would be sorry, I think, to miss.
Allow me this moment of delay, and I shall return.”
Again, he gestured to the players, who’d grown silent at the crushing of the crystal carafe. They watched
him uncertainly, then one young flautist stepped forward.
He seemed young, no more than eighteen years, but his
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eyes belied this. They were fixed on Alfonzo, and the
musician’s face, framed in deep red-gold hair that flamed
about his features wildly, was lit by light that flickered
both down from the walls, and from somewhere deep
inside. With an almost imperceptible nod, the silver flute
was brought to pale lips, and the musician dropped his
head, closing his eyes and allowing the long hair to cascade forward over his features, covering his hands and
the flute. He began to play.
There was something in the song, something deep
and powerful. Alfonzo smiled thinly and turned toward
the stairway once more. As he moved, servants flocked
about him, following as he moved from the ball room and
bustling about him, whispering to one another. Two ran
ahead and scurried upward to Alfonzo’s chambers to prepare new robes and arrange for the blood wine that Matteo
had been sent in search of, then forgotten.
As Alfonzo disappeared upward, the music flooded
the ballroom once more. Servants swarmed over the broken crystal and spilled wine and it disappeared efficiently
and quickly. The tension, very slowly, and never completely, drained from the room.
With this, the voices rose once more, and the music
of the single flautist rose, piercing and deep, and the night
deepened perceptibly.
*
*
*
“Who did it?”Alfonzo snapped, holding his arms out
impatiently as his soiled robes were removed and replaced
efficiently. “When I knelt and touched her robes, I got
the impression of violence, but no more. There was no
face, no recognition. I felt incredible darkness, but heard
no sound.” The bishop bowed his head, as if trying to drag
something free of some inner pit of darkness, but a moment later he shook his head and looked up once again. “I
could sense nothing of use.”
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To his right stood a small group of swarthy, dark faced
Cainites, fronted by one sallow-faced, man with a toothin beard and close-set eyes. These were Ricardo and his
own men, outlanders who’d found their way to the central roads of the Latin Quarter before the fall of the city
and gravitated naturally to Alfonzo’s service. They were
hardened, part of no clan, but loyal to the final death. For
a price.
“There is no sign,” Ricardo replied darkly. “The
mother-loving bastards left not a mark in the room, and
they were down and gone before she was discovered.”
“This was more than just a simple raid,” Alfonzo said,
whirling so his arm would shoot into the sleeve of his clean
robe and whipping it the rest of the way around his body
in irritation. “Banditshave many things they are fond of,
but they do not, in my experience,make off with the heads
of those they rob. There is more to this than we know,
and I need to know everything here, Ricardo. Everything.
“Get to the streets. Pass the word. I will pay well to
find out who has done this. I must return to those below
and try to undo the damage this night has done. I will
have to send word to Rome, somehow, and that is another matter for care. It is important that they not believe
we are responsible for Isadora’s death.”
Throughout this short speech, Ricardo stood silent,
nodding slightly at each instruction. His men remained
still and perfectly motionless behind him, grubby shadows against the elegant tapestries and brilliantly polished
silver candelabra that ornamented Alfonzo’s personal
chambers. This was an outer room, where he received
others. At times, when things were properly cleansed,
he entertained elders of the church in this chamber,
seated on a polished mahogany throne that overlooked
all below in such a manner that you could not help but
look up if you wanted to meet his gaze. Games. Power
and play, always.
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This was no night to think of mortal clergymen, or of
Isadora’s elders in Rome, or any of the other thousand
things that whirled through Alfonzo’s mind. The preparations for the night’s entertainment would be reaching their
nexus, and that nexus was his place. He would stand at
the center of it all, controlling the puppet strings of the
night. He had planned this entertainment for his guests,
but now.. . now he needed it himself.
“Go now,”he said, waving a hand in the direction of
his balcony, and the city beyond. “Find out who has done
this thing, and report to me immediately.”
Ricardo turned, and within seconds left Alfonzo alone
among his bustling servants. With an angry wave, the
bishop dispersed them. He grabbed the goblet of wine
Matteo held by the door, sweeping past and down. As he
came abreast of Matteo, he softly ordered.
“Prepare the hunt.”
*
*
*
The ground floor of Alfonzo’s mansion was not the
lowest. Beneath the kitchens were labyrinthine corridors
and branches, lined with storage rooms and wine cellars,
roots and herbs, and cells. The deepest, most central
branch of the tunnels that ran beneath cut into the rock
of the building’s foundation. Barred doors separated the
pitch black of the passageway from the equal darkness of
the cells that lined it.
Matteo hurried along this passage. Two of Alfonzo’s
clan followed at his heels, making the young thrall nervous and eager to please. They were young to the blood,
these two, embraced less than a year earlier. Twins. Bishop
Alfonzo had presented them to Isadora as a gift, their
embrace not intended at the time, and she’d been so fascinated by their similarity of appearance, and their soft,
young skin, that she’d insisted, and he had acquiesced.
Arturo, almost imperceptibly taller than his brother, had
been embraced by Alfonzo himself. His twin, Leonid, had
tasted Isadora’s kiss.
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They moved as a single unit. When one slid to one
side, the other moved as his polar opposite. The effect
was mesmerizing, and the two made Matteo’s own blood
run cold. He yearned to be through with this task and to
return to his master’s side. He had been in the bishop’s
service for so long that he felt any separation deeply. Now,
deep beneath the stone floors,where dozens of the undead
milled and danced and conspired behind his master’s
back, he felt that separation very acutely. Being in the
presence of the twins magnified the sensation. They were
like serpents, wrapping in and about one another with
eerie precision.
The three came to a bend in the corridor, and just
around this, Matteo reached up to the wall and drew down
a torch. He lit it quickly with the small tinderbox he carried, and replaced the torch in the sconce. The flame
guttered, caught in a subterraneangust, almost extinguishing, then grew slowly to a life of its own. As the
illumination grew, fingers gripping the bars of a door set
deep into the stone walls became visible. Wide, frightened eyes stared out at him from the shadows within, and
he felt the sharp hiss of sudden hunger escaping the thin
lips of the twins.
“Not yet,” he said softly, knowing he could not allow
a hint of command to enter his voice with such as these,
but knowing, equally, that they would abide the bishop’s
instructions.The twins were powerful, when together, swift
and deadly, but they were not intelligent. They had been
brought up by peasants with barely the sense not to walk
into stone walls, and this had followed them into darkness. They did as they were told, but there was no light
behind the dull silver-gray of their eyes. Oddly-this
placed them among Alfonzo’s most trusted followers.
Matteo fished a ring of keys from the pocket of his
tunic, and moved to the cell door.
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“Get back!” He cried harshly. There was a shuffle of
feet, followed by dry whispers and mewling cries, but the
fingers retracted from the bars of the cell, and the eyes,
now framed by pale young faces in the flickering torchlight, slid back to the far wall, away from the door. Away
from the leering countenances of the twins, and Matteo’s
own stem glance.
Within the cell were at least three dozen young
women, ranging from ten or twelve years in age to their
early twenties. All wore only the ragged remnants of the
clothing they’d worn when captured. All of them, despite
their circumstancesand the fear that leaked from them in
palpable waves, were beautiful.
“We must move quickly,” Matteo said, breaking the
silence once more. “Wewill get them to the outer kitchen.
Others are waiting. Once they are in place, they will be
stripped and cleaned. Do you know what it is that you are
to do?”
He turned to the twins, bracing himself for the intensity of their gaze.
They nodded. The motion was one, not two, as it
might have seemed with any others. Their heads bobbed
as though bound by hidden wires.
Matteo nodded in return and slide the key into the
lock, drawing the door open slowly. He stepped into the
cell and stood, facing those within with a cold, even stare.
He had long since learned to steel himself against their
pain. He knew their fate, far better than any of them knew
it. That fate sang through his veins and called to him. It
was his destiny. He was certain it was his destiny, but in
time only, and only when he was found worthy.
“You will come with me,” he told them. “You will
walk in a single line, and you will be chained. The first of
you will hold my hand, the others will join hands behind
until you have made a string. If you break that string and
falter, or fall behind,” he hesitated, “you will be killed.”
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He glanced at the twins, who had moved uncomfortably nearer to the cell door. Their eyes glowed, and their
hunger was obvious. The girls made soft mewling sounds
and backed more tightly against the wall. One of them
began to scream, but Matteo stepped forward and slapped
her, hard, and the sound died to a soft, bubbling whine.
Slowly, caressing each calf, and several thighs, letting their hands and their lips press to soft flesh at every
opportunity, the twins fastened the slender chains to the
girls’ ankles, binding one to the next. They seemed to
move with interminable slowness, but the process was
over in moments.
Without another word, Matteo grabbed the first girl,
a blonde-haired beauty in a tom peasant blouse and skirt,
barefoot and wild-eyed. She could not have seen her sixteenth year. Matteo took her hand stoically and turned to
the door, leading them off and down the corridor, feeling
the gentle tugs as each was grasped, and pulled, and drawn
into the line. The night was passing too swiftly, and
Alfonzo would not want to be kept waiting. Not this, of
all the nights of eternity.
Behind him, the twins slid from side to side, guarding the rear of the line against stragglers and allowing their
presence to strengthen Matteo’scontrol of the “herd.”That
was how they saw the women, Matteo knew. Food. They
hungered, and it was only the strength of Alfonzo’s will
that held the two back from a monumental feeding frenzy.
Matteo’s heart pounded more swiftly, but he held his fear
in check. For the moment, he was safe enough, as long as
he did exactly as he was told, and nothing more was allowed to go wrong.
Above him, guests were growing a bit restless, and
Alfonzo was descending the stairs a second time. Despite
all that had happened, there was still half an hour before
the midnight hour would strike. It was almost time for the
real party to begin.
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They reached the kitchens, and the women were
taken away by dozens of sets of hands, some mortal, most
not. The women were unchained, turned and teased,tossed
between those who worked around them as clothing was
stripped away and water was tossed. Hands moved over
each, cleansing and caressing, teasing and pinching soft,
rosy skin. Matteo slipped from the center of the room and
watched, just for a second, as a vampire with long dark
hair leaned in close, one hand holding a sponge that soaked
the front of a young woman’s flesh. He cleansed the filth
and grime of the cells below, as a flickering tongue slid
over the girl’s ear, unheard words whispered and tears
streaming steadily down young cheeks, even as the flesh
that was so coveted recoiled from the unwanted touch.
Matteo tore his eyes from the scene and bolted into
the hall. There was more to be done. He gestured to a
group of young thralls who’d been awaiting his approach,
and they moved off down the halls, each in a different
direction, closing windows, and lower-level doors. Securing them tightly. Closing off all escape. None of this would
hold against an onslaught of the damned, but for their
prey the building was being sealed as tightly, and with as
much finality, as a tomb.
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..
.
.
__... ..-
Chapter Five
Lucita and Anatole reached the gates of
Constantinople before midnight, moving swiftly on the
nearly empty road. She knew that most other Cainites
would be off the roads that night. She knew of Alfonzo’s
gathering-had, in fact, timed her trip to Adrianople so
that she and Anatole would be returning to the capital on
the very night of his fEte. This allowed her the doubleadvantage of being able to legitimately beg off the bishop’s
pro forma invitation by citing pressing business while still
being nearby for the festivities’aftermath. Such ribald and
macabre festivities, although distasteful, did tend to set
matters in motion. Pressure as existed in Byzantium had
eventually to be released and Alfonzo was providing an
opportunity for a metaphorical dam to break.
Bishop Alfonzo had not actually expected her to attend, of course. There was no love lost between
Archbishop MonGada and him. Narses had his talons
deeply embedded in Alfonzo’s throat, and he worked the
vocal chords from afar with ease and quiet malice. Alfonzo
appeared to be very much in control of himself, his people,
and his dark, ratty comer of the city, but Lucita knew how
precarious that control truly was. All part of the dance.
Anatole steered through the gates of the city and
turned inward, toward the central squares. It was early,
and their intent was to return the carriage to Lucita’s servants and see what the night might bring. There would be
rumors, by now, of how the debauchery that Alfonzo had
no doubt planned and set into motion was progressing.
There might be a few foolish mortals about, easy hunting
in the half-ruined, half-rebuilt streets of the city.
Lucita had a lot to consider, after her meeting with
Basilio the Elder. The powerful Cainite had been a long
way from his own city, and he had walked freely in
Adrianople. He could not have done so without the bless-
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ings of Licinius, who was prince in that city. It was disconcerting to think that two of such power were colluding
so close to Constantinople itself. Even more disconcerting coupled with Basilio’s assertion that the crusaders
would fall to the Bulgars. If this were true, might
Constantinople fall, as well? How far did Basilio’s greed
reach, and how much was he willing to risk in the face of
Moncada’s wrath?
It was too soon in the game to worry over these things
too deeply, but they itched at her mind. Anatole drove in
silence, lost in worlds of his own. If it had not been for a
soft call from the shadows, one of Anatole’s followers, the
two might have missed the three shadowed figures, passing to their left and deep in shadow.
Anatole yanked back on the reins and the carriage
teetered. The horses shied in their harnesses, backing toward the side of the road as the carriage tilted, then righted
itself with a loud crack.
Anatole was in motion before it had settled, and with
a shrug, Lucita followed, clearing the seat and landing on
the road with knees bent and her hand on the hilt of her
sword. She had no idea what the call had indicated, but if
it was enough to get this reaction from the monk, it was
enough to put her on her guard.
There was a soft rustle down a side street, and they
followed. No clatter of sword belts. No pounding of booted
feet. The sounds were subtle and hard to make out. Lucita
drew herself inward, relying on instinct to guide her, instinct and the back of Anatole’s robes as he raced down
the side street, leaving their carriage unattended beside
the road and vanishing into the shadows.
The pavement was uneven, broken in places and
under repair in others. There were carts along the sides
that would be filled with the wares of vendors by day, those
too poor to rent space in the shops, or who had been run
from their homes by the crusaders. I t made the going more
difficult, and the chase nearly impossible.
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-
Anatole moved like one possessed. Something had
angered him, something he intended to catch, and now
Lucita’s own battle lust was rising. It had been a long time
since she’d had the opportunity to use her training in arts
other than diplomatic. The blade in her hand felt good,
strong and supple and as much a part of her as the hand
that held it. Mongada had made certain she’d studied
rhetoric and diplomacy before sending her into the world,
but she’d sought out a fencing master in Valencia to provide a more martial education. Lucita of Aragon was a
child of the Reconquista and knew well that honeyed
words oft-times failed. They turned into a darkened alley,
and she saw Anatole’s gaze shift upward. The sides of the
alley were lined with porticoes, and littered trash in heaps
and barrels of dubiouscontent and origin. There was room
to move down the center, but not much room, and the
stench was awful. Flies buzzed around their heads, and
animals scuttled to the darker comers. Something fluttered over the wall to their left, and Anatole lunged.
There was no hesitation. He leaped, gripped the
stone sill of a window and swung himself up. Lucita
cursed, sheathed her sword, and took a simpler route
upward, hading more warning and time to leap to the
top of a handy barrel, springing upward from there to a
wrought-iron trellis that circled the first level of terraced
balconies above. The buildings to either side rose to a
height of about four stories, each level a charnel heap of
garbage and debris, as if the owners of the shops and
homes on the street beyond had been simply tossing the
refuse of their lives out the rear windows and doors for
decades and allowing it to accumulate.
Anatole had reached the top of the wall, where he
was joined by two shadowy figures melting from the darkness on either side. Judging by Anatole’s not killing them
on the spot, she knew they were his own, and she leaped
to the final balcony below the roof, swinging outward from
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the iron railing, feeling it shake and quiver, as if it might
wrench free of the wall and drop her to the alley below,
then she was flying, soaring up and over the lip of the roof
and landing a few feet to Anatole’s left.
“What is it,” she grated, moving quickly to his side.
Anatole scanned the rooftops, and listened. He held
up a hand for her to wait, to remain silent, and she froze.
Her irritation was growing, but she knew better than to
cross Anatole at such a moment. There was no telling
how he was about to react, or to what, and it was always
best to gauge that reaction from a distance, rather than
finding one’s self in the center of it.
Something clattered, very lightly, across the next alley atop a long, flat building, and Anatole was in motion
once again. Lucita and the others followed, and as they
hit the gap, leaping into the darkness and passing easily
over the alley to the rooftop beyond, she caught a glimpse
of furtive motion on the far side of that roof. Three figures, one taller than the others and all three retreating at
a dead run.
Anatole caught site of them at the same instant as
Lucita, or possibly seconds before, and he was suddenly
gone. Not gone, exactly, but ahead. Moving so swiftly, so
suddenly, and with such a show of intensity and power
that it nearly caused Lucita to stumble. He hit the edge of
the roof and leaped, flying through the air with such velocity that he didn’t bother to gather his legs beneath him,
but stretched out his arms and let the momentum bear
him forward.
Sensing his approach, the three spun. The taller figure handed something to one of the others and that figure
dropped over the side of the building, out of site. The two
remaining fugitives stood their ground, watching Anatole
as he struck the surface of the roof at last, rolled a single
time into a fluid run, and charged. Lucita and the others
had leapt the gap, in the meantime, seconds behind.
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Though they pursued closely, the difference in their speed
made the gap between them seem greater. They closed on
the three figures facing off on the rooftop.
Anatole did not stop for speech. He had pulled free
the blade he carried beneath his robes and leapt at the
taller of the two remaining figures, who circled to the side,
his own weapon in hand, watching Anatole cautiously.
The other hesitated. He glanced over the wall, where
the third had retreated, but for some reason thought better of following. He closed in behind Anatole, putting the
monk in a pincer between two adversaries.Anatole’s followers, with no concern at all for their leader’s fate, hit
the wall at a run and swung over and down toward the
street below, intent on pursuit.
With a cry, Lucita lunged, drawing the attention of
the one closing in on Anatole’s back. He turned, caught
the glint of her blade in the moonlight, and dodged nimbly aside, slicing down and back with a long, rapier-thin
blade that teased it’s pointed tip through the silk of
Lucita’s gown.
She ignored this, twisting her blade instinctively to
press against the sword, speeding its momentum and slapping it far to the side. Before her opponent could recover,
she’d reversed the twist of her wrist and her own blade
sliced cleanly back through the air. She felt it bite in the
muscled flesh of his shoulder, and there was a grunt, then
a wrench as he pulled free and danced back a few feet.
Now Lucita could see what,she faced, and she regarded him analytically. He had shifted his sword to his
free hand. Not the hand to which he was accustomed.
The tip of the blade wavered slightly, and she knew in
that instant that he did not possess the same control with
his left arm.
He was dressed in dark robes, tightly bound about
him to prevent dragging. The soles of his leather shoes
were soft, and would make little sound as he passed. He
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was dressed in the manner of a thief, or an assassin, but
something in the wild glitter of his eye and his stance as
he adjusted to the use of his uninjured arm spoke of a
different upbringing.
Lucita slashed upward, going for the throat, and he
parried easily enough, though the twist backward seemed
to* confuse him for a moment. It was his last.
Without hesitation, Lucita brought her leg up and
planted a booted foot in her opponent’s abdomen. He
doubled from the blow, trying to bring the sword around
to slice at her, but she beat it back with a hard slap of steel
and then, putting every ounce of strength and concentration she possessed into the thrust, she drew the blade in a
brilliant arc over his shoulders. His head hung for a moment, balanced on his shoulders and twitching, and his
eyes widened. Then she lashed out again, this time with
her fist, and struck to the left side of his head, which rolled
free, bouncing once and coming to rest against the rail at
the side of the roof. Lucita kicked out once more with
every ounce of her blood-richened strength, and the body
teetered toward its head, arms outstretched and fingers
groping, as if searching for what it had lost.
The body stumbled, falling toward the edge, and
Lucita watched, fascinated, as it hit the side, leaned out
over the brink, and toppled, end over end. She stepped
forward, gripped the head by the hair and lifted it, studying the features she had faced off against. He appeared
young, but already he was falling to ash, and his age was
indeterminate. She didn’t know him, of that she was certain, and Lucita knew most of the damned who were part
of the night society of the city.
With a shrug, she swung her arm back and tossed the
head in the opposite direction that the body had fallen,
watching it bounce once, then skitter over the edge of the
building and back into the last alley they’d passed.
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Turning, she watched from a short distance as Anatole
continued his own battle. The taller of the strange Cainites
was much more adept than his companion had been. His
movements were fluid and careful, no wasted motion. He
avoided Anatole’s first few attacks with ease, rolling to
the side with one thrust and executing a sort of spinning
flip in the air that landed him closer to the monk, where
he swung his own blade in a swift arc.
Anatole was not there when the blade passed. Simply not there. He moved so quickly that when the sword’s
blade sliced the air his own motion made it seem a slowmotion parody of a sword thrust. With a cry, Anatole swung
his blade up and then down, intending to cleave the other’s
arm from his body. Anatole was not the only one faster
than thought, however. The blade struck nothing and a
long leg snaked out, snaring Anatole’s ankle and whipping forward. The monk leaped into the fall, rather than
letting it topple him, and whipped in a tight circle, but
his opponent was already moving, heading for yet another
wall and leaping into the darkness. This was no short alley, but a large, wide street. Anatole ran to the side of the
building, Lucita close behind, and they stared at the street
below. The stranger disappeared into another alley, moving so quickly it was difficult to mark his passing.
Lucita wasn’t certain, but she heard a sound that
might have been Anatole cursing under his breath. She
had never seen him so upset. She had never heard him
curse. She heard a soft scrape behind her and turned.
The two that had accompanied Anatole and herself to
the rooftop had returned. They were alone, and they did not
look pleased. Anatole turned to them, gauged their expressions, and scowled. He whirled from them without a word,
gestured in the direction that the taller of the fugitives had
disappeared, and the two were gone, over the side and down
the wall. Lucitadidn’t think they had much chance of catching up, but there was no way to tell what resources Anatole
could command. He continually surprised her.
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“Who were they?” she asked at last, breaking the silence. “Anatole, who in all the hells were they, and”-she
hesitated before adding her last thought--“why do you
hate them?”
He shrugged, and rather than answer, paced along
the ledge that formed a small rail along the roof‘s edge.
Lucita followed, ready to renew her inquiries. Anatole
stopped. He grew very still, then he leaned and grabbed
something from the rooftop, staring at it for a long time.
Lucita saw him brushing the surface of his thumb back
and forth across the object, and then, very suddenly, he
turned. He tossed what he had retrieved from the roof in
a glittering arc, and Lucita caught it deftly.
It was a medallion. It had been on a leather thong
hanging from the neck of the man she’d slain. When her
blade loosed his neck, the medallion had tumbled to the
roof, forgotten. O n it was the face of a woman, her features in the Greek iconic style. The medallion was banded
in concentric circles of symbols. Very few of them were
familiar to Lucita, who glanced up at Anatole curiously.
“Who is she?”she asked.
“Calomena.” Anatole spat the word as if it were another curse, and Lucita nearly recoiled at the venom in
his voice. “She is Calomena, and they,” he swept his arm
in a vague arc that indicated the three he had been chasing, “are her children. They are an abomination.”
Lucita held the monk in a frank, curious stare. “You
answered only half of my question,” she observed. “I have
heard of them, naturally, though I had thought they had
either passed with the fall of the city, or were merely
legend.”
T h e y are insane,” Anatole answered cryptically,and
Lucita barely kept the mirth from flooding her own features. To hear Anatole refer to another as mad was
something she’d never expected.
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“Like some of the dualikt Bogomils,”he continued,
“they believe that Caine’had a sister, Calomena. She
will bring salvation to us all, they say, but only at the
cost of the children of Caine himself. Caine,” Anatole
intoned, turning at last to face her and meeting her
gaze, “they believe to be the creation of Lucifer himself. His teachings? Lies. The belief in his glory?Misled,
and blasphemous.”
“How did you know?”she asked.
He glanced at her quizzically, and she realized the
question was cryptic.
“How did you know?How did those who followed us
and watched us know, who these were?”
He didn’t answer at first. Turning away, Anatole stared
off across the city, clasping his hands behind his back. The
silence grew thicker, and Lucita was about to press her
point, when he. spoke at last.
“There are vibrations,” he said softly, “and then,
there are vibrations. There are tones within tones and
worlds within worlds, and always there are signs. I did
not know they were in the city, but when I was summoned at the road, the others knew, and they passed this
knowledge on to me. Did you see what the first of them
to flee was carrying?”
He turned back, catching her gaze very suddenly.
“No,” she admitted, shaking her head and finally
sheathing her sword. “I was too busy trying to keep up
with you to pay any attention.”
“I was much closer,”Anatole said softly. “It was a head.
That of Isadora Genevieve Parantio.”
“Isadora?”Lucita asked, rolling the name over her
tongue and thinking. “Not the Isadora that has been so
close to Alfonzo.”
Anatole nodded. “Yes, her head.”
Glancing out over the city toward Alfonzo’s mansion, where even from where they stood the lights could
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be seen, dancing in the night, Lucita said, ‘‘I wonder if he
knows?I would guess that that Alfonzo’s feast is not going
as he had planned.”
Anatole did not answer. He turned away, making his
way slowly across the roof and back the way they’d come.
They needed to get to the carriage, to return it safely, and
to get off the streets. They’d spent too much time on the
rooftops, and there were others on the streets who might
be less than honest about another’s property.
Lucita was hungry, and she silently wished for bandits to be raiding the carriage when they arrived. They’d
fed thinly these past two weeks, spend on the road and in
the camps, and the action of the night had drained her
more than was entirely cautious. There were willing vessels at her Latin Quarter home, but she was in the mood
for something less tame.
She followed Anatole off the roof and into the
night, still clutching the talisman of Calomena tightly
in one hand.
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Chapter Six
The manse’s ground floor had been sealed without
any of the guests being aware. Matteo had sent his people
throughout the halls and stairways, blocking off all human avenues of escape. It would be obvious to those of
the night that the barriers had not been meant to impede
them. This was important. Alfonzo was preparing an entertainment, not a war. He didn’t want to excite the enmity
of any particular guest, he wanted to impress them with
his magnanimity and generosity, as well as the depth of
his resources.
Most of those present had attended one of his functions in the past, and knew Alfonzo’s taste. They would
be excited, not put off, by the closed doors. His entertainments were extravagant and he was trying to make an
impression. No matter the political ramifications of the
night, this was a party not to be missed.
Matteo was careful to be thorough. There were not
so many to be hunted that they could afford to lose
any, and things had shifted drastically. The bishop’s
mood was volcanic and unpredictable. Isadora had not
been with them long, but she had risen swiftly in
Alfonzo’s favor. She had been intended to sit, and then
to hunt, at his side this night. Now Alfonzo would hunt
alone. Matteo shivered.
Once he was satisfied that all was in order on the
lower level, he returned to the hall that led to the kitchen
and signaled to Leonid, who leaned against the wall just
beyond the kitchens. He was watchful, and not quick to
move when signaled by a thrall, but a moment later he
slipped down the passage to Matteo’s side.
“It is ready,” Matteo said, not giving the other a
chance to intimidate. There was no time for it. Arturo
and Leonid knew their parts in the upcoming hunt well
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enough, and they knew Matteo’s own position. They
didn’t respect it, but they knew it. Either of them would
cheerfully have fed on Matteo and dropped him forgotten to the floor if it had not been for the knowledge of
what the bishop would do when he found out. It wasn’t
that Alfonzo had a soft spot for Matteo-he wasn’t foolish enough to believe this. It was merely that Matteo
was very efficient at running the household, and such
help was difficult to find.
Leonid nodded indifferently and turned his back,
disappearing down the corridor in the direction of the
kitchens with deceptive speed. Matteo watched him
go, then turned toward the ballroom. It was time to
slip in among the guests and find his master. Soon, it
would begin.
*
*
*
Alfonzo moved through the ballroom slowly. He
stopped at each group of guests, his features masked in
false cheer and infused with his famous charm. It was
obvious he was walking a tight string of tension, and
those he spoke with-for the most part-stepped lightly.
The memory of his earlier display would not leave any
of them soon, and no one wanted to test his strength
against their skull in the way they’d seen the crystal
flask test it-and fail.
Though he masked his feelings well, Alfonzo was
seething. It was an unheard of breach that any would dare
such an attack on a night when his own peace was guaranteed on the party. If the word of what had actually
happened were to circulate among those present, there
might be a panic. At the very least, his own authority
would be in question. How could he offer them a safe haven, even for an evening, if he couldn’t protect those of
his own house?
And who could it have been?There was a very long
list of those who might have wished him ill, but Alfonzo
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could not attribute the style or timing of such an attack to
any of them. And the head. Why had they taken her head?
There was too much to think of and ifhe was to make
it through the night, he was going to have to push it to
the back of his mind. The damage to his party had been
done, but the most memorable part of the evening was
still to come. He could salvage much from the evening if
things went well, and as long as he was able to keep the
silence among his own people about Isadora’s death, he
might find a way to turn the entire business to his advantage. That was later.
Gabriella of Genoa stood alone, to one side, surrounded by her fawning followers, and Alfonzo watched
her for a moment before approaching. She had been deep
in conversation with a short, bent Nosferatu, one whom
Alfonzo knew by sight, but not by name. Feeling the weight
of his gaze, she glanced up to meet his eyes.
Alfonzo approached.
“It is quite the party,” Gabriella said as he approached. “My congratulations.” She paused. “Or should
I say, my condolences.”
Inwardly, Alfonzo cursed, wondering how much she
knew, and how she had come by the knowledge.
“The party is young,” Alfonzo replied, sipping the
blood-laced wine in his goblet and stepping closer. He
noted that her followers closed in slightly, framing her
against the wall as if she were one of the works of art she’d
taken to collecting. “Who is to say,” he continued, “what
’ the sentiment will be by the time it ends.”
“Who indeed,” Gabriella commented dryly. “Will
Isadora not be joining us this night!”
Alfonzo’s smile widened. She suspected something
was wrong, but she did not know. I t was obvious in the
twist of her smile. Gabriella did not hold Bishop Alfonzo
in high esteem, and it would please her greatly to think
he and Isadora were merely quarrelling. Briefly he won-
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dered what sort of relationships she herself might have
suffered if she could believe his earlier loss of reason might
be attributable to a lovers’ spat.
Before he could form a properly cryptic response, he
spotted Matteo pushing his way gently through the crowd,
and he turned. The boy stepped close, bowed his head,
and waited.
“What is it?”Alfonzo asked, knowing the answer, but
wanting to divert his conversation before he gave away
too much, or sent the wrong signals to Gabriella. She was
powerful, and she had her own interests. Genoa would
love a larger piece of Constantinople, and she bore watching. She was, after all, Lasombra,and in the clan, intrigue
was as important as blood. Sometimes more so.
“We are ready, Lord,” Matteo replied. His voice was
low, and Alfonzo detected the tremor behind it. He wondered if Gabriella would hear it, as well, and if so, what
she would make of it. It wasn’t odd for a servant to fear his
master, but under the circumstances, he knew he would
have to watch every word and gesture.
“It is well. Let it begin.”
With a quick nod to Gabriella, the bishop turned and
strode slowly back to the center of the room and the raised
table and chairs. Matteo had dissolved back into the crowd,
and moments later had sent his troop of servers scurrying
about the room. Alfonzo turned to face his gathered guests,
and gestured to the players, who slowed, then grew silent.
Anticipation was palpable in the air, and Alfonzo smiled.
As he raised his arms, torches and lamps were slowly
extinguished, one by one, in a pattern, giving the impression of dominoes falling, each lamp snuffing the next in
turn. It was an effect that Matteo had practiced again and
again, seeking the rhythm that would give the moment
an eerie power.
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Of course, the light made little difference to those
gathered. It was theatrics, smoke and mirrors to add to
the entertainment.
“Such a party,” Alfonzo called out, still holding his
arms over his head, hands flat and reaching toward the
ceiling, “has many things to offer. The music”-he gestured to the musicians, who nodded in silence-‘‘the
drink”-he downed his blood wine in a single gulp, this
time spilling nothing. He set the goblet on the table absently and raised his hands again.
“But there is one thing that every good party brings
with it,” he continued. “One thing that itches at the mind
and grasps the strings of the heart. That thing is hunger.
Everything centers on that one, basic need. The music
can soothe.” Matteo leaned in close to the lead musician and nodded a cue. A rhythmic, pulsing beat arose.
Around the room, five small alcoves were suddenly lit
by flaming torches, and within each, a drummer sat, staring stoically into the shadowy ballroom. The beat circled
the room as the extinguishing of the torches had done,
growing in speed, then dropping off again, then growing
more rapid still.
Alfonzo stood in the center of it all, feeling the pulse
of the drums like the heartbeat he had not known since
his mortal life, feeling the call of the blood. His eyes blazed.
“The hunger has but one answer,” he intoned. “Let
the hunt begin.”
At this, the band joined in with the drums, the flute
deep and rich, notes blending and sliding off the walls,
the strings of twin fiddles rising to play with the haunting
silvered tones. It was sultry and dark, the drums coming
from all sides of the room resonated the very stone beneath the assemblage’sfeet. The guests began to mill about
in expectation, wondering what would come next, and
from which direction.
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It was then that another set of torches were lit. These
moved from the greater hall, leading up from the kitchens. They were held by Arturo and Leonid, warped
reflections one of the other, prancing in almost mincing
dance steps at the head of a long procession.
A murmur rose as the chain of girls came into view
- e a c h now joined to the next by tiny silvered links that
circled each throat, collar-like, and stretched back to the
next in line. They were naked, their skin pale and glowing in the torchlight. Each reacted to the moment
differently-exquisitely. Some tried to pull back, away from
those moving ahead. Others reached out to those they
passed, as if they might provide escape. These turned
quickly, shuddering and screaming at the faces and touches
they met to either side.
At the head of the line, Arturo and Leonid held the
ends of the chains that bound the girls, each with a chain
in one hand and a torch in the other. They placed the
torches to either side of Bishop Alfonzo, where he stood
by the raised table, and leaped up to stand beside him.
They turned, bowing low to the assembled crowd.
All was silent. All concentration was now focused
on the women, the heady scent of their blood, the life
pouring through their veins, the fear sweating through
their pores and leaking from the depths of their eyes.
Alfonzo took the offered ends of the chains and gazed down
at his captives. They didn’t seem to notice him. None of
their eyes were directed too far from the floor. Some had
collapsed in small heaps, dragging at those before and behind them, tightening the chains at their throats and
causing more cries, more torment. They were exquisite.
Turning back to his guests, Alfonzo continued.
“The hunger, alone,” he said, smiling wide, “is powerful. Few can ignore it, and none completely. It is the
force that drives us, the one need we cannot overcome.
Not by force of will, by ritual or prayer, not by the grace of
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any other being that walks the earth, but only by the final
death can we escape it. The hunger is the one thing we all
share, regardless of clan, politics, or religion.
“And there is one thing,” he shook the chain for
emphasis, “that can ease the burden of that hunger. All
good things come to those who wait, and you have
waited with me this night, patiently, as we moved toward this moment.
“While we share the hunger, there is one other thing
I would like to share. A particular love of my own. Some
among you have given this over, preferring the more refined methods of satiation. I dedicate this night to those
who have come before. To those who hunted alone in the
shadows, wild and free, seeking their prey by the heat and
the blood, and feeding as they wished. This is their night.
This is our night.”
The drums were pounding, deep, resonant, and only
the force of his will brought his voice above them. All
were on edge now. The air was thick with barely controlled need.
Arturo and Leonid moved down the line, gripping
each woman in turn, holding her still, presenting her to
the crowd and removing the chains. To each they whispered warnings, to be still, to stand as they had been left,
or to suffer, long and slow. The twins were thorough in
the teasing of both hunters and prey. The atrocities they
hinted at as they moved among the girls and women drew
gasps, cries and one piercing scream. Their long-nailed
fingers trailed over soft, naked flesh as they progressed.
After what must have been no more than a couple of
minutes, and stretched into an eternity, the women were
gathered, free of their bindings, into a small circle, just
below Alfonzo’s table.
He raised his eyes to the room. “We will give them
the count of one hundred. One hundred seconds to
decide their path. One hundred seconds to define the
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tiny portion of eternity that represents their remaining lives. We will count to one hundred, and then ...
Let the hunt begin.”
The drums took up where his voice had left off. The
beat slowed, once again a heartbeat, and with each pulse,
somewhere a voice cried out through the room.
“One.”
“Two.”
Other voices chimed in. None cried out. Not exactly.
The words, the numbers, were spoken with soft intensity.
The women seemed confused at first., but Leonid leaned
in among them, running the tip of one fingernail up the
throat of a girl of no more than 16, holding her gaze and
whispering. “Run.”
They were gone. All of them moved together, at first,
but as they passed through the crowd, Matteo and some of
the other servants diverted them, stepping between running bodies and feeling them peel off to either side. The
crowd got into it then, their voices joining, one after another, as the numbers rose, and the pale, stricken features
of the women passed among them. A hand would reach
out to brush across a soft cheek, and that woman would
skitter to the side, fleeing through a different doorway than
the girl to her right or left. They were broken into groups
and fleeing for their lives.
There was no screaming. They were not going to outrun their pursuit. They knew they would have to hide.
Instinctively, they were silent. Only the heaviness of their
breath, the scent of their sweat, and the blood that
pounded through their veins would give them away. The
only illumination now was the by the drummers. The
guests were circling, moving easily through the darkness,
and the women stumbled and tripped through them, desperately pressing off of any body they touched, screaming
when they came too close to a pale, leering face.
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The count reached eighty, and Alfonzo slowly descended to the floor. He could sense the growing tension,
the energy crackling through the room. He had them. This
was what they’d wanted, what they’d come for. Many of
his peers would raise their noses in public and claim such
things beneath them, but when the blood called, they
answered. It would always be so. Alfonzo’s own hunger
clutched him tightly. He had expended a lot of energy,
repressed his rage and continued with the night, but he
was shaking now with the effort. The scent of hot blood
was heady, strong and intoxicating.
The prey had been driven from the room. They wound
their way through the passageways of the mansion, but
they would find no escape. They could not enter any of
the stairwells, nor would they be able to find their way
out through any door, or back down the way they had
come. The basements and kitchens were closed off.
Alfonzo had stationed his people on the stairs, and the
doors would be sealed.
“Ninety-eight.”
The air crackled with excitement, and before the echo
of the words “one hundred” had faded, the room was a
whirl of motion. The darkness that so confused their prey
launched the hunters into their own element. Within
moments the first screams arose, and Alfonzo was barely
able to contain himself. He moved slowly across the room,
fighting his instinct to streak to the halls and to scream
after those who had been released. They had been beautiful, and the hot scents of fresh blood and fresher fear were
heady, far beyond any blood wine ever bottled.
His senses reeled, and he steadied himself against one
wall. He had his own pleasures planned, bittersweet as
the moment would be with Isadoragone. At that thought,
his rage boiled up again, and he nearly caved in to the
desire to hunt with the others, alongside his guests and
their followers. He heard screams and moans of fear, and
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once, as he passed one of the small, dark gardens, he heard
the distinct sounds of feeding.
Matteo stood to one side of the door leading back
toward the dungeons, and as his master passed, he pulled
a lever that slid back a panel in that wall. Moments later,
the panel slid shut, and Alfonzo was gone from the party.
No one noticed his passing, and those engaged in the hunt,
and the feeding, would never notice his absence. They
would disappear, one by one, to seek their shelter as the
night grew pale and the brightness of morning threatened
to seep through the windows. There would be no more
meetings among elders, no more quiet talking or sipping
of thin blood wine. The servants had disappeared beyond
the doors and walls that would protect them, for the most
part, from what went on in the halls and gardens beyond.
Alfonzo walked down a corridor that was more narrow than most. He was between the outside wall of the
mansion and the inner hall, a passage few knew existed,
and fewer still were allowed to walk. He heard movement
beyond the stone, an occasional-cry. The women were
young, and they would be clever, but nothing could save
them. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
Alfonzo knew that the twins would join the hunt.
They had barely contained their hunger when leading their
charges through the midst of the ballroom, teasing and
stroking soft flesh and feeling the pulsing life beneath it.
They would now have to be kept on a short leash. They
had fawned over Isadora like puppies, idolizing her. Without that additional control, he would have to find ways to
divert their energies. Neither twin was quick in thought
or keen in judgment, and the potential for embarrassment
or outright harm to his affairs was too great.
Alfonzo rounded a comer, pressed on a stone to his
right, and pushed open the concealed door which unlatched at his touch. The darkened stairway spun upwards,
narrow and steep, spiraling around the main hall inside
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the walls. Alfonzo took the steps quickly, often flying up
several in a single bound. It was time for release. It was
time to let the hunger and the tension and the anger boil
over, and for this he had prepared a singular entertainment of his own.
He reached the third story, and he slid around the
stone silently,careful not to make a sound that might carry
through to the other side. The rooms on this floor were
private chambers.Alfonzo had spent a lot of time on them,
creating a decadent sanctum where he could escape the
worries of the lower levels. Few were allowed access to
this floor. Fewer still ever departed.
Alfonzo circled slowly. He had such a guest now. He
had two, as a matter of fact. A man, twenty years to his
credit, son of one of the merchants of the Latin quarter.
He was staying in one room of Alfonzo’s mansion, and in
another, a young woman. Her name was Katrina, and she
was the daughter of one of the royal families of Adrianople.
The two had met, years before, near the merchant’s tents
in the market place, and against all rules and logic, they
had fallen in love.
Katrina was a beauty, and headstrong, refusing to
marry at an early age to fulfill her father’s wish of an alliance with a stronger house. In the ensuing years, no less
than three suitors had been rejected, the last violently
and publicly, and her father’s patience had ended. Katrina
was to be shipped to a nunnery. Her family would no longer
acknowledge her, and she would never be granted the freedom she sought.
Had her father known about Eduardo,he would have
had the young man publicly whipped and castrated. The
blame would have been set upon his shoulders for the
insubordination of the daughter, and both would have been
punished. So the boy had gone to his father, who in turn
had approached his secretive bishop, late one night, with
the problem. There was a difference between the boy’s
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wishes, and those of his father. Eduardo’s father knew
enough to fear the wrath of royalty. He wished to do business with the Bulgars and Greeks and knew he could not
be in the business of stealing daughters. Alfonzo had listened to the problem from start to finish, and, smiling, he
had promised relief.
The girl had been taken easily. The twins had slipped
into Adrianople one night, finding her alone in a garden where Eduardo was to have met her. One moment
she had stood alone in the shadows, expecting her lover’s
approach, the next she had been bound, gagged, and
whisked away.
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Chapter Seven
The morning followingthe party, a messenger arrived
at Bishop Alfonzo’s door. He was young, barely into his
teens, and ill-dressed. His face was the face of a thousand
others, and he bore no identification. Only the message.
The boy was set free, and the message was carried up
the stairs to the bishop himself. Matteo bore it. None had
seen their master since the night before. None had been
willing to break a silence he had imposed. Isadora’s rooms
had been cleaned, scoured until the stone gleamed, the
bed made and everything just as she had left it. Againnone wanted to be the one to disturb something that might
make a difference to their master.
The party had not passed without leaving its marks.
Matteo had been up with the dawn, and since then he’d
had servants working around the clock, cleaning away the
evidence of what had transpired, wiping away the blood,
and setting the great ovens in the kitchens to incinerate
the remains.
The carnage had been incredible. In the darkness,
with only the drummer’s torches leaking their luminescence into the shadowy halls, it had been a surreal,
amazing dream. The beauty of those who’d hunted was
undeniable, their strength beyond question-but by day
the stark reality of what had passed as entertainment was
all too clear.
Matteo had been in this position before. Cleaning
up the remnant of what he wished he were part,of. It was
his place to return the mansion to the daylight world, pristine and bright, the envy of the living, breathing gentry,
the facade obscuring the reality of the bishop’s world. The
living had many stories about this place: it was the home
of a wealthy and reclusive Venetian merchant, or the home
of a heretical church, or cursed ground left to Latins by
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devious Greeks. All hints of the truth, none complete.
There had to be perfect attention to detail. If Matteo had
failed in his task, his usefulness would be at an end, and
the twins might get to play the games with him they had
always hinted at.
Now, with the sun just setting, holding the message
tightly, he made the long slow climb to the upper levels.
The lamps were lit, once more, and the barriers between
levels had been removed. None were moving yet, except
in the kitchens and servant’s quarters below.
It felt wrong. Something had changed, something
more than just the death of Isadora, and the completion
of the party. If it had not been for the message he clutched
in his hand, and the possibility that it would prove as important as the messenger had claimed, Matteo would not
have mounted that stairway for any price. Alfonzo would
come to t h e m - o r call to them-when he was ready. The
bishop did not enjoy being disturbed
Matteo squared his shoulders and did his best to
steady his breathing. He reached the landing that led
into Alfonzo’s personal quarters, and he stopped. The
massive wooden doors were closed tightly. There were
no torches lit, and there was no sound. Matteo knew
that the outer wooden doors led to an antechamber,
where dark and heavy curtains hung from the ceiling to
the floor. Beyond the curtains were a second set of doors,
wrought of iron and ornamented with the
Euagetaematikon, the Holy Scripture of the Cainite
Heresy. The blood communion given of Maundy Thursday-the Last Supper when Christ-Caine gave of his
blood to the Apostles. One night, Bishop Alfonzo
preached, all humanity would share in that holy gift.
Matteo pressed a panel near the outer doors and they
swung open. No light. There was no lamp, no torch. The
interior of the antechamber was as dark as a tomb, and as
he stepped inside, Matteo felt the rush of air as the doors
closed behind him.
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He had the sudden, irrational urge to turn and bolt.
He could open those outer doors, return to the lower levels, and wait for his master to come to him. He could
apologize for any sound he might have made, beg forgiveness for not delivering the message immediately. All of
these possibilities, and more, rushed through his mind,
but his body betrayed him. He stepped forward, parting
the dark curtains near their center and stepping through.
He was not completely confused by the darkness. He had
tasted his master’s blood, and his sight was more than it
had once been-but less than it could be.
He could see the base, fleshy Apostles, praising the
unfeeling, spiritual image of the Christ-Caine floating
above them. He could see the Hell-faced demons, creatures of the Demiurge, leering in from the sides. He could
feel the beating of his heart, erratic and hurried. His skin
was clammy, and though every ounce of his being wanted
to step inward to his master, his body protested. Before he
could shy away, he reached out and grasped the iron
knocker near the center of the inner doors and drew it
back. With an exhalation of breath he let it fall forward.
The sound echoed, deep and loud.
At first there was no indication that any had heard
him. The doors remained closed. There was no light, and
no sound. He might have been locked in a giant casket, or
the dungeon of a castle. Matteo’s hand trembled, and he
clutched the message more tightly. He was tensed to flee,
already leaning away from the metal doors and the possibility of pain and death that lay beyond them when a soft
squeal of metal broke the silence, and a deeper crack of
darkness slid down the center of the metal doors.
There was no greeting. There was no indication that
any stood within that doorway, or that he was welcome.
Neither, he told himself, was there any indication he
was unwelcome. He couldn’t get control of his racing
thoughts, and breathing was more and more difficult as
the seconds mounted.
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Finally, realizing that there was no other possible action to be taken, he stepped forward, plunging into the
darkness beyond the doorway and closing his eyes. I t did
not matter if they were open, or closed, in that instant. If
he died, he preferred to do so with the mental image of
the bishop’s face smiling at him. He did not want to see
any weakness, or deceptive shadow that would haunt his
mind. He wanted to be ten minutes in the past and deciding to wait for his master’s presence to deliver the message.
“What is it, Matteo?”The bishop spoke softly. “Why
are you here?”
Matteo tried to speak. He opened his mouth, and his
eyes, though he could see little in the darkness. He sensed
another presence, but he concentrated on his master. He
wanted to apologize. He wanted to explain the arrival of
the messenger, and the insistence that the message be delivered immediately. He wanted to fall to his knees, lower
his eyes and beg forgiveness, and at the same time he cursed
himself as weak and unworthy. He didn’t even know if he
had displeased his master, and alreadyhe was offering himself as sacrifice.
Unable to speak, he held out the note.
Alfonzo stepped forward and took the paper from
Matteo’s hand. No words were spoken. Matteo saw his
master’s head tilt. There was no light. None. Still, Alfonzo
read and Matteo could just note the features he adored
and see the shoulders grow tense. Alfonzo read, then raised
his head, lowered it and read again.
“Whendid this arrive?”he asked sharply. “And how?”
Matteo found his tongue.
“Not half a n hour ago, milord,” he stammered. “It arrived by messenger,a boy from the streets. He knew nothing.”
“Did you read this?”Alfonzo asked.
“No, Your Excellency. It was addressed to you alone.”
Alfonzo’s eyes bored into Matteo’s, searching-digging. Finally, he turned back to the note. “It is about
Isadora,”he said at last. “There is information. Something
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I should know.” Alfonzo crushed the paper in his hand so
quickly and completely that Matteo half-expected it to
fall to dust.
“You must send a response for me,” Alfonzo said at
last. “You will carry this yourself. No other is to touch or
read it. No one is to be trusted.”
Matteo gulped in a breath, shivering with relief. He
was trusted. He nodded.
‘You will carry this to Lucita of Aragon,” Alfonzo
stated flatly. “You will request that the lady join me this
evening for counsel. You will thank her for me, for this
message. Is this understood?”
Matteo nodded again. He knew of the Aragonese
woman, certainly, though she was not one that his master
had often spoken well of. She had moved into quarters
near the edge of the Latin Quarter soon after the Crusaders broke the city’s back. She was of similar blood than
the bishop, but hardly an ally. Alfonzo often muttered
questions and accusations with her name prominent, and
this change of attitude was startling.
Then there was a scuffling noise deeper in the shadows, and Matteo’s thoughts of Lucita and the message
slipped away. He drew back toward the doors. Alfonzo
seemed not to notice the approachingsounds at first, then
he turned. Matteo saw the muscles that had tightened in
his master’s shoulders loosen.
Katrina stepped slowly from the shadows. She was
pale, very pale-and her steps were not steady. Her eyes
roved incessantly. Hungrily. Her gaze latched onto Matteo
and she moved. One second she was still, the next in
motion and Matteo was flung back against the wood frame
of the iron doors with bruising force.
“No!” he cried out as she struck, quick as a snake, at
the soft skin of his throatThere was no bite. He felt the scrapes where her nails
had dug into his flesh, and his back throbbed. His head
had cracked painfully against the door, but his throat was
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intact. There were two scrapes, barely breaking the surface, when Matteo reached his fingers up to brush over
his skin.
He looked up, dumbstruck. Bishop Alfonzo held her
tightly, one hand in her hair, the other arm wrapped around
her waist. Still she fought. Her eyes were deep and red
and she saw no more of Matteo than a wineskin that was
denied her. Alfonzo’s eyes darkened.
“Go,”the bishop commanded. “Go,and send me the
twins. I will need them to hunt this night.”
Matteo nodded, backing away-forgetting the closed
doors and banging his head a final time before turning,
pressing through the doorway and slamming it behind himself. He tangled in the curtains as he passed, but they did
not slow him. He tripped through the antechamber, lunged
for the outer doors, and was suddenly free. With deep shuddering breaths that wracked his frame, he leaned his back
to the door, trying to stop the whirling of thoughts, and
the deep-diggingbite of the fear.
Matteo desired nothing more than to be embraced
by his master, but this had been so different. He’d never
seen madness in another’s eyes like what he’d seen in the
girl’s. Even the twins, young in the blood, were guilty of
only a sort of controlled madness. They hunted, but it was
the hunt of a pair of cats, toying with their prey. They
enjoyed what they did, and the girl that had nearly ended
Matteo’s life moments before had shown no sign that she
could enjoy anything. She had needed him. She had hungered. That was the totality of what he’d sensed in her. It
was not what he wanted.
Bishop Alfonzo was a beautiful man. He was tall, strong
and cultured. He could be wicked and hurtful, devious and
purely evil, but he was recognizable as himself at all times.
He was rational, intelligent, and powerful. That was the
dream. That was what kept Matteo striving day after day to
find ways to be more pleasing, things he could do to ease
every waking moment of his master’s existence.
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And the blood. Alfonzo’s blood called to him strongly.
He had tasted it only once. Reluctantly, at first, then greedily. The thick, rust-flavored blood had threatened to gag
him when he first thought of what he was doing. He’d
tried to pull away, though that was impossible. Alfonzo
held him easily, and it was only moments before his
struggles to free himself had become frantic struggles to
continue. To have more.
Alfonzo denied him as effortlessly as he’d forced him.
Now nothing could seep in to the shadowy crevasses of
his mind but the thought of that holy communion. Matteo
longed to walk among such as the twins without fear. There
were hints and unspoken promises, but that one taste was
all he’d been allowed, and it wasn’t enough. Not nearly.
Before leaving with the message, Matteo stopped on
the first floor, where the bishop kept his offices. There
were others who managed these affairs, meetings that could
not be avoided with clergymen were held in these rooms,
complaints and pleas were heard from others in the city,
soldiers, merchants, even minor royalty. It was well known
that, though there was a certain danger to dealing with
the bishop on any matter, there were definitely benefits,
as well.
Matteo found one of the clerks, a young man named
Eldon, with studious, gray eyes and a nervous twitch at
one side of his mouth, seated behind the desk just inside
the chamber.
‘‘I will be going out,” Matteo said quickly. “I have an
urgent message to deliver for the bishop. If any should call
for him tonight-and I mean any-they must be turned
away with apologies and scheduled at another time.”
“But,” Eldon asked, half-rising from his seat, “what
shall we tell them?They line the streets every night to see
him, and we are expecting several local merchants who
have been waiting months for an audience.”
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“Tell them that it is a matter of faith,” Matteo replied solemnly. “Tell them that the bishop is fasting, and
in meditation over the problems of our city. Tell them
that he will meet with them soon. If they are important,
slide others down the list to accommodate them. Regardless, do not disturb our lord.”
Eldon looked as if he might speak again, and Matteo
held up a hand. He caught the slightly younger clerk‘s
gaze, and he held it. He was still disheveled from his narrow escape on the floors above.
“You have not been with us long enough to understand fully,” Matteo said softly, “but hear this well. There
are times when our lord is not to be disturbed. There are
times when you could find yourself in a deeper hell than
any you could imagine without taking leave of this city,
and this could be one such time. He is not to be disturbed
for any reason.”
Eldon swallowed hard, and sat down, making a performance of sliding ink wells about on the desk and
checking the tips of the many quills arrayed before him.
“It will take time to speak with them all,” he said at last.
‘‘I will do all that I can.”
“See that you do,” Matteo said, turning without
further discussion and going in search of the twins. He
found them near the rear gardens. They were searching
among the trees, noses close to the ground as if they
could sniff the air. It was the garden directly beneath
Isadora’s balcony.
Matteo watched them for a moment, standing in the
shadows and gathering his courage. He knew that they
would not give him trouble, considering the message he
was bringing, but he hated to disturb them. They seemed
intent on something that he could not see, or sense, and if
they were on the trail of Isadora’skiller or killers, then he
was loathe to come between them and success.
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Suddenly, Arturo stiffened and turned. The thin,
blonde hair hung limply over his shoulders, and he turned
his hawk‘s nose slowly. His gaze rose from the ground, and
locked onto Matteo. Matteo froze. For the second time in
one night, he was unable to move. This time there was no
attack, but the sensation was much the same. He stared
into those dead, soulless eyes, and he never even noticed
the movement as Leonid appeared suddenly at his elbow,
very close.
“What do you want, boy,” he hissed. The words were
whispered, but so loud in his ears that Matteo feared his
head would explode from the pressure. He felt a bonethin hand gripping his shoulder painfully. The scent of
Leonid’s breath was fetid and dark with death.
Matteo turned to speak and in that second, Arturo
was at his other elbow. The two sandwiched him so
tightly that even had he been physically able to move,
it would have been impossible without dislodging one
of the two. Matteo had no illusions about his ability to
make that a reality.
“I.. .”He choked on the word, hated himself for the
fear that robbed his voice and shuddered. Arturo ran a
long, yellowed fingernail up his throat, and the words
spilled free.
‘‘I have a message for you.”
The finger withdrew, and he was granted a hairs
breadth more space to breathe. With all the strength of
will he possessed, Matteo concentrated on not closing his
eyes, not allowing a tear, and not soiling himself. Silently,
deep inside, he made a promise to himself. If his master
fulfilled his promise. If he became such as they, he would
have his revenge. They were powerful, but not intelligent.
Matteo would be stronger, and he would see them fall to
ash and kick those ashes to the night wind personally.
The vow gave him strength.
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“HisExcellencyneeds you,” he said, speakingquickly.
“You are needed to hunt. He has embraced a girl.”
The twins exchanged a glance.
Matteo continued. “She is very hungry.”
Arturo broke away, turning back to where he’d been
rooting through the brush and gardens. It was obvious that,
though the prospect of a hunt appealed to him, and he
knew he would answer the bishop’s summons, something
was drawing him toward the night. Something he did not
want to let go of.
Matteo took a deep breath, and braved a question.
“What is it? Did you find something-the killers?”
Leonid glanced in the direction his twin had turned,
then turned Matteo’sface with one finger under his chin.
Those dark eyes held no emotion but hatred, yet Matteo
sensed, for the moment, that the hatred was in not directed toward him.
“We have found little,” Leonid breathed, “but we
need little. Some are born to talk, others to lead the
church in song and prayer. We were born to hunt. They
have killed one of our own, and we will find them. They
will not die well.”
It was the most that Matteo had ever heard either of
the two say. He’d heard long, whispered strings of filth,
though he’d caught little of it, when they teased or tortured a captive. He’d heard them curse, sometimes at
servants, most times at one another. He had never heard
one of them utter coherent, focused speech, and the words
forced him to reevaluate the dangers they presented. He
felt another shiver building, but at that moment, Arturo
turned back.
“Where do you go?”
He did not waste words.
‘‘I am to take a message,” Matteo breathed. “I am to
tell no one.”
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Arturo held his gaze in silence. It was obvious that
he was considering whether to accept this, or to face the
consequences of forcing a response. Alfonzo would not be
likely to kill either of them if they did so, though he would
certainly punish them.
“It is important,”Matteo whispered. “It is not because
he does not trust you.”
Arturo turned away abruptly. He made a last, doubledover pass through the trees, and then, with a sudden burst
of speed that sent him flying past Matteo so quickly that a
wind rose, he was gone, back to the mansion, back to their
master. As before, the second twin moved in response so
quickly that Matteo did not register the movement until
he stood alone in the garden, trembling, surrounded by
the silence and the dark.
He turned and walked toward the street, and the city
beyond. It was not far to where Lucita ofAragon had taken
her residence, but at night it was best to move slowly and
with caution, and already he’d been delayed longer than
he was comfortable with. The twins were a problem for
another night.
He passed through the small garden and hesitated
very briefly, scanning the shadows. If there was something
there, he could not see it, but he very desperately wanted
to. He wanted to be the one to bring something important-anything important-to His Excellency. He wanted
to ingratiate himself with his master, and, truth be told,
he would miss Isadora. She had been devious and cruel,
but she had also been beautiful, and she had never been
stale or boring. Such as she were rare in the world, both
night and day, and eventually he would take time to mourn
her passing.
*
*
*
Lucita stood on her balcony once more, watching the
city breathe. They were rasping, painful breaths, but there
was life in her yet. The activities of the night before were
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still vividly etched in her mind. In a fold of her robe she
carried the small pendant.
She had questioned Anatole at length, but learned
little. The Chosen of Calomena were not well known.
No clan. No ties of blood or family. They were tied by
their belief, the way mortals were tied by theirs, and it
grated on Lucita’s nerves. There were certain ways that
things were meant to be. There were those who hunted,
and those who were hunted. There were those who ruled,
and those who followed.
The Chosen were born of the malignant wisdom of a
fanatic named Stanislav, who had preached on the Latin
Quarter and supposedly met his end during the sacking of
the city. They believed Caine to be the font of all evil,
and his twin sister Calomena to be the savior who would
return to cleanse the world. In preparation for this, they
had raised a brood-including both vampires and mortals-and begun a hunt of epic proportion. The clanless
united was a horror unto itself. The clanless united against
the clans was much worse.
And this incident was not without precedent. AIfonzo
had lost two of his children to the Chosen. His hatred of
them was bitter, and deep. The news she had for him would
open doors, but some questions remained: Just what would
exit from those doors, and who would step back through?
Anatole had remained silent on his own hatred of
the Chosen. He did not know who led them at present.
He did not know why they would attack Alfonzo, other
than the obvious history they had with his family. He knew
none of these things, and yet, he had known who they
were, and he had killed their leader without hesitation.
They would have to be found and watched. If possible, they would have to be eradicated. You could not
march soldiers with a madman in their midst, and you
could not properly rule a city where the leaders’ lives were
forfeit at a moment’s notice. I t would require thought.
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She saw Matteo moving down the street toward her
long before he was aware of her watching. He moved skillfully, and Lucita saw immediately that he had been touched
by the blood. Alfonzo, most likely. No other messenger
would have been trusted with this.
What she had sent to Alfonzo was a simple charcoal
rubbing of the pendant she now carried, and a short note.
“I know who has taken her,” it said. “One of them is dead.”
She had known that this would not satisfy Alfonzo.
Far from it, the words had been chosen to inflame him, to
raise the long-smoldering hatred he held for the Chosen,
and to force a meeting where Lucita would initially hold
the upper hand. She would have the opportunity to steer
their conversation,having something that he wanted. She
knew that Alfonzo was Narses’ puppet. He might appear
powerful here, on his own ground, but in the grand scheme
of things, he did as he was bid-for now.
Matteo drew closer, glancing furtively into the shadows to either side of the road. He seemed particularly
nervous for one in the bishop’s service, but Lucita withheld judgment. Things would be in turmoil after Isadora’s
death, and there was no way to know what might have
transpired in the wake of the party. Only vague rumors
had circulated. Most had been of the final hunt, individual tales that reminded Lucita of young boys she’d
known before her embrace, bragging over their prowess
at some inane game, or how they’d beaten other boys
into submission. Alfonzo had planned well. The hunt
had erased most of the memory of his party, and the
memories he’d left with his guests had ended pleasantly.
Grudgingly, Lucita approved.
As Matteo pulled up in front of the large wooden
doors below her, Lucita turned and stepped into the hall.
With a clap she brought a young girl, Maura, running
lightly down the hallway, eyes lowered.
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“We have a visitor,” Lucita called out sharply. “See
him in. Have him wait for me below. Bring him wine and
light candles. Make him feel at home. I will be down shortly.”
Maura nodded, turned, and fled back down the hall.
Her cheeks were flushed, and Lucita smiled. Maura was
often unable to disguise her feelings, and her love for Lucita
herself was intense. Sometimes, the smaller pleasures
brought the deepest entertainment.
Lucita returned to the balcony. She heard the doors
opening, and she knew her young visitor had been escorted
inside. She was not in a hurry. The longer she waited, the
more on edge he would be, and the more firmly she would
control the moment. Alfonzo was not the only one who
knew how to plan.
*
*
#
The girl led Matteo down a dark hallway. Near the
far end, a doorway opened to the left, and a soft light
glowed from within. They made the turn, and he found
himself in a drawing room, centered by a massive carved
wood table, polished to an almost liquid shine. Upon its
surface sat candles, lined up in holders of various size and
shape, artfully placed. There were two chairs drawn up
before the table, and the girl ushered him toward one.
“What is your name?” he asked her softly. ‘ L Dyou
~
serve Lady Lucita?”
The girl nodded, but did not offer a name. At the
mention of her mistress, she had flushed bright crimson,
and Matteo smiled. She had, he believed, tasted the blood.
It wasn’t knowledge in any normal sense of the word, but
an aura she gave off. He felt it prickle along his skin. She
was a pretty girl, and attentive, but he could sense nothing beyond this. After he had taken the offered seat, she
turned to the table. There was a carafe of wine waiting,
and a single crystal goblet.
Matteo hesitated. He did not want to presume. Perhaps his appearancehad given some sort of misconception.
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His Excellency would certainly have never offered him
wine, or sat him among such finery. He remained seated,
but his nerves were on edge.
He waited for what seemed an eternity. He crossed
his legs, then uncrossed them. Sat forward anxiously, hands
on his knees. His wine sat, untouched, as he was not yet
certain if he should cry off from the offer and beg her forgiveness for not doing so immediately. A thousand
thoughts caromed about inside his head, and none of them
would light long enough to be held and set straight.
Just as he thought he would lose his mind, there was
the sound of soft steps, and a dark-complexioned,beautiful young woman entered the room. He had expected her
to appear older, somehow. She smiled at him, and his heart
melted into his legs, giving him the sensation of being
made of lead, unable to move properly. Her eyes were deep,
and her gaze locked onto his immediately, not quite mirroring the brilliance of her smile.
With an effort, Matteo rose, dropping immediately
into a deep bow.
“Milady,”he said suddenly, speaking too quickly, unable to stem the flow of words once it had been unleashed,
‘‘I am sorry. I presume too much. His Excellency, Bishop
Alfonzo, has sent me to you, to bring a message in return.
I am only a servant. I.. .”
She stilled him with a gentle gesture and moved
closer, stepping around him and indicating the goblet.
“Drink,” she said simply. “We do not get many guests
here, servants or masters, and it would please me to speak
with you.”
There was nothing Matteo could say in response to
this. The proximity of her was overwhelming his senses.
Her features had softened since she’d entered, the young
curves of her body seeming to blur. Matteo’s heart pounded.
When, he wondered,had her eyes gotten so wide?So deep?
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“What is the message you have brought me?” The
words were soft, floating to him from some distance he
couldn’t even imagine.
“His... His Excellency has requested that you join
him this evening for counsel,” Matteo answered dreamily.
“He seemed very eager to speak with you.”
Lucita was smiling, and Matteo was tumbling into
that smile.
“Does he treat you well?”she asked.
Matteo was startled by the question. He was too befuddled to work out what the implications of her words
might be. How did one answer a question like this one,
when the person asking, and the person being asked about
were able to read you like an open book, and both could
kill you and toss you aside without a moment’s thought?
‘‘I am happy,” he said at last.
She watched him for a moment, took a step, and
watched a little longer. ‘‘I don’t believe that is true. What
is your name?”
“Matteo, milady. My name is Matteo.”
“Matteo,” she repeated. “An old name, old and noble.”
Matteo blushed. She was moving, slowly pacing back
and forth before him, circling closer and closer. ‘‘I traveled here with His Excellency as a young boy,” he added.
‘‘I am from Venice.”
“Drink, Matteo of Venice,” Lucita said, stopping suddenly. “You will soon have to depart to tell the bishop of
your success. I will see him tomorrow night, for I have
important things to tell him. You can tell him, as well,”
she added, as Matteo brought the cool crystal goblet to
his lips and took a first, tentative drink, “that I will be
accompanied by the monk Anatole. It was he who first
unearthed the information I bear, and it is he who is best
able to present it.”
Matteo nodded. The wine was old. He had never
tasted finer. He took a second, longer drink. He could think
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of nothing to say. He knew that he should not be sitting
as he was, watching her move and talk, and sipping wine.
His Excellency would be furious, and it was likely that the
bishop would read the guilt of the stolen moment in
Matteo’s eyes. There was little that he did that his master
did not intuit.
“Your time will come,” she said finally. “He has
gifted you with his blood, Matteo. You will not always
be his servant.”
His heart raced. Had she, too, read his eyes?
‘‘I have waited a very long time, milady,” he replied,
draining his wine in sudden thirst. “A very, very long time.
I have hauled the corpses from his quarters and stood at
his side as leaders of church, state and guild marched in
and out for counsel or for war. It seems, already, that I
have lived an eternity.”
Her eyes, if it was possible, grew deeper still. “There
are many levels to eternity, Matteo of Venice. Go. Tell
your master what I’ve said, and be swift. I will come when
the daylight fails tomorrow. Do as I bid and there will be
rewards aplenty, I’m sure.”
He rose, stumbling a little. She watched him, and
very suddenly, she smiled.
“Matteo?”she asked, as he turned away.
“Yes milady?”he spun back, ready to kneel, or to bow,
to offer himself to her, anything.
“You should wipe the wine from your lips before you
return. The bishop is sure to notice.”
His face flushed and he licked his lip quickly, bringing up one hand.
Her laughter followed him down the corridor and out
the door, into the night. He could still hear it ringing in
his heart, and in his thoughts, far down the road.
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Chapter Eight
Gabriella rode alone. It was late, and she rode fast,
only the moon lighting her way, and a sky littered with
stars like tiny sentinels, standing by to guard her. She had
always loved these moments to herself, hut this night it
was a transitory moment at best. She had to reach the inn
and make inquiries.
Hadrian’s Rest was one of the important inns along
the Constantinople to Adrianople road and it was firmly
under Gabriella’s sway. Trade was the lifeblood of any
Genoese worth his (or her) salt, and unlife did not change
this. Gabriella used taverns and inns to gather information and seed spies, both under Alfonzo’s nose in the Latin
Quarter and in key places between the capital and the
makeshift camps several nights ride a way. Hardian’sRest
was a day’s cart-ride from the Gate of Polyandrion, considerably less by fast horse. It was known to not look too
carefully at cargo and to have a complement of rooms in
the basement where a Cainite could rest away the day
undisturbed. Thanks to it, Gabriella had good information about who was traveling between to and from the
camps. Information was very valuable, indeed.
What she had learned outside Alfonzo’s mansion,
however, would prove of use only if she found a way to
take advantage of it. It wasn’t all that strange that the
bishop should embrace a new childe, and he had lost so
many in and around the fall of the city. The fact that his
new progeny came from Adrianople, and the influence of
another, made a difference.
Licinius might not care a whit about the girl. He
might, in fact, consider her well gone from the city, since
she had been on the verge of being sent away at the time
she was taken. On the other hand, Licinius might well
count the girl’s father as a supporter, and be stalking his
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chambers and cursing, wondering where she had been spirited away to. Such a willful girl might also have been on
the prince’s own list of planned acquisitions.
There were many things weighing upon the heart of
the prince. The Latin Empire-the crusaders’ parody of
ancient Byzantium-may have been pushed back from
Adrianople’s gates, but only at the cost of coming under
Bulgarian suzerainty. Things were different among the
undead, but that surely still stuck in Licinius’ craw. If rumors were to be believed, then Basilio the Elder, the
undead prince of Sofia, had arrived as a guest-more than
enough to raise eyebrows.
The loss of a single mortal girl, then, of noble birth
or otherwise, might be overlooked. It was up to Gabriella
to make it into something more. Something useful. Then
there was the matter of fair Isadora. Something had happened at the beginning of Alfonzo’s party, something
important, but despite his outburst of fury, and the display
with the crystal decanter, he had not revealed it.
Gabriella had intended to send her own servants
among the bishop’s own to ferret out the truth, but
Alfonzo’s sudden recovery and the onslaught of the hunt
had robbed her of the opportunity. All she had was
speculation, and that bothered her a great deal.
Gabriella did not deal in probabilities, but in realities.
She needed information.
She also needed support. Constantinople remained a
city in flux. There were crumbled remnants of powerpockets ofGreek vampires and old fanatics squirreledaway
in the depths of the city-and a panoply of Latin and
Frankish vampires trying to built a new domain here, like
Alfonzo. Like herself. As the buildings were rebuilt, and
the streets cleared, and as the mortals struggled to reclaim
what she knew was forever lost, another rebirth was happening. The city was without a true leader. The three
ancient Cainites who had built, and then ruled in the city
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of Constantinople were gone, and none of their own progeny seemed able to step up and patch the Dream together,
let alone collaborate in ruling over it. The last of those
hoary elders, the bacon, was lost to them, perhaps forever-perhaps for the best. There was no way to reclaim
what once had been. The city would never be the dream
of the ancients, but it could become another’s dream.
Gabriella had many dreams.
Bishop Alfonzo was a problem. He had been entrenched in his Latin Quarter when the crusaders hit, and
it was there that they had done the least damage, where
there was the least to destroy, the least loyalty to the city,
the least to be gained by conquest. Few of the invading
knights had found it worth their while to ransack stores
and warehouses run by fellow Roman Christians, when
they had a grand city filled with the riches and wonders of
schismatic Greeks near at hand.
So Alfonzo remained. Both the mortals and their
church, as well as the low, obsequiousclans he had gathered in the Latin Quarter supported him because, of all
the things they remembered, of all the powers that had
walked the streets and spun their webs in the shadows,
Alfonzo was still strong, and everything else had toppled.
He’s had his talons around the throat of Venetian trade in
the city before the crusade, and that only made him stronger now. Archbishop Narses watched over him.
Gabriella rode into the inn’s courtyard without slowing, still leaning in close to her mount and easily drifting
with the rhythm of his flashing hooves. She knew where
she was going, and the faster she got into the stables, the
less chance there was that any would attempt to waylay
her, or waste her time. She had many things, but for once
in her long existence, time wasn’t foremost on the list.
She dismounted and led her mount into an empty
stall. The stable hand appeared soon enough, but he was
well trained and knew not to question wealthy visitors of
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.
a certain cut. She made for the inn’s private rooms where
the meeting had been set. These men would hopefully
bring word from the camps, where she had a clutch of
spies. She’d always cultivated better relations with the
Greeks than Alfonzo, and there were now many old acquaintances willing to report what they saw for her
continued patronage. Gabriella would have no surprises
from that quarter.
She descended the stone steps leading to the inn’s
cellars. The interior of the stairwell was dark, but she saw
the faint glow of light from beneath a second set of curtains at the bottom. She pressed through this second
entrance and into the room beyond. There were two seated
at a rough table directly to her right. On the table between them sat a chess board with a game in progress.
The chamber was dimly lit by candles placed about the
room. The furnishings were rough and barely functional.
The two rose as she entered, but Gabriella motioned
for them to remain as they were. She stepped closer, examining the board and then glancing to the player on her
left, who appeared to be in his early fifties, gray-streaks
flecking dark hair, eyes even darker. His attire was simple,
a dark cloak and boots. He met her gaze evenly.
“You are playing well, Ian,” she said softly. “You appear to have him on the run.”
Ian nodded and smiled thinly, but his attention was
only half-focused on her. His opponent, a thin, brighteyed man whom Gabriella knew had been embraced
centuries in the past, though his appearance belied it in
almost every aspect, was staring at the board in deep concentration. Then, snake-like,he slid a pawn up one square,
far to the left of the main battle on the board.
Ian stared at the move. Gabriella stared as well. I t
seemed wholly unrelated to the game at hand. A nonsensical move that did nothing to advance the play, and only
sped the inevitable victory of his opponent. This was the
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surface of it. Gabriella, however, knew this other. His name
was Pasqual, and he had come to Constantinople many
years before, having lived first in France and then in Rome.
He was never frivolous. He rarely spoke, even when expected to, unless his words would matter.
It would be the same, Gabriella knew, with this game.
Ian did not sense it. The two of them had not been together long, and Pasqual was not one to be known well
after a short time. She had known him a hundred years,
and still she did not really understand him. She watched
in silence.
Ian moved his queen into attack position. The glint
in his eye had grown more predatory, and he made the
move decisively, focused on the pattern he saw before him.
There was no hesitation in Pasqual’s return move. He slid
his bishop into a diagonal line, one space more advanced
than the pawn he’d just moved.
Ian hesitated only a second. He glanced at the pieces,
saw no danger in the new position, and moved his queen
into line with Pasqual’s king.
“Check,” he said, his voice tense.
Pasqual advanced a pawn to block the check. It was
a seemingly pointless prolonging of the inevitable. Almost
contemptuously, Ian slashed the queen across the board
and removed the pawn.
Pasqual looked up, just for a second, meeting Ian’s
triumphant gaze. Then he struck. The moving of the queen
had freed the line for Pasqual’s bishop. He moved it in
line between his king, and Ian’s queen. The queen could
not take the bishop without being taken herself, but this
did not matter in Ian’s strategy. With slightly less confidence, Ian advanced his bishop in line with the queen. If
Pasqual took the queen with his own bishop, there would
be an exchange, and the check would be enforced once
again, with the same inevitable outcome.
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Pasqual did not take the queen. Instead, he slid his
knight, which had lain forgotten along the side of the
board, into position and, in a voice barely more than a
rasp of wind, whispered, “Check.”
Ian stared at the board. He was angry. It shone in his
eyes. He was unable to sit back and reassess a situation he
felt he already controlled. Gabriella could see the tide
shifting, and she watched with interest as, almost belligerently, Ian moved his king one space to his left, out of
the line of the knight.
It was over that simply. The bishop that had been
moved to be protected by the lone pawn struck, now protected by the knight, which still covered the original square
where check had been called. There was nowhere for Ian’s
king to run. The game had ended, and he was sitting, staring open-mouthed at the board, unable to comprehend
how it had happened.
“There is a lesson in this game, I think,” Gabriella
said softly.
Ian snapped his gaze up to hers, ready to retort, but
something in her eyes remindedhim of his place. He fumed
in silence.
“It is never wise to concentrate all your forces on a
single point. There are many directions from which an
attack may come, and there are as many forms of attack as
there are directions. You have to be willing to adapt when
circumstances shift.”
Ian tipped his king irritably and slid away from the table.
“This is his game,” he snapped, pointing a figure accusingly at Pasqual. “It is never enough to win at chess. It
is only enough if you can humiliate your opponent. His
game,” Ian nearly spat, “is to always allow his opponent to
believe he is winning.”
Gabriella did not share Ian’s rage. Her lips twisted
into a smile of amusement.
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“Then,” she added, “I would say there is a further
lesson.”
Ian turned and strode through a dark hole in the back
wall that led to an inner chamber. Pasqual was still studying the chess board. He glanced up at her.
“He could have beaten you, still, if he’d been willing
to admit the danger.”
Pasqual nodded. ‘‘I know. He has not beaten meyet-but he shows promise.”
Gabriella shook her head and turned away. There was
a larger table at the far end of the chamber,and she moved
to this, taking a seat and turning impatiently to the entrance by which she’d come.
“Where are the others?” she asked. “I don’t believe
that I’m early.”
Pasqual did not answer, he merely shrugged. Already
he was replacing the pieces on the board, contemplating
an opening.
There was a sound from above, then booted feet on
the stairs, and Gabriella watched as two cloaked figures
entered. One was small and hunched, leaning near to the
ground, almost dragging his knuckles. Seeing Gabriella,
the figure straightened somewhat, but his stance was uneven. He had the appearanceof an animal, poised to spring
or to flee, and uncertain which direction the next moment would take him. His eyes were so dark they appeared
black, and his hair, wild and uncombed, waved about his
grizzled, hairy face like a stubbled forest.
“You are late,” Gabriella observed.
The second new arrival tossed his cloak back to reveal a pale, boyish face, haloed in wavy gold hair His eyes
sparkledbetween blue and silver, and there was a sardonic
grin planted on his lips that rode his features well.
“And you,” he said with a bow, “are beautiful as ever.”
Gabriella tossed her head and avoided a smile. Barely.
“Sit down,”she said. “There is little time, and I have things
I need to tell you.”
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The two made their way to the table, and finally
completing his careful placement of the chessmen,
Pasqual joined them. A few moments later, Ian strode
from the back chamber, still scowling, and took the final
remaining seat. When all were seated and watching her,
Gabriella told them of Alfonzo’s gathering. She told them
what she’d learned of the girl, Katrina, and she told them
of her mysterious ally within Alfonzo’s house who had
sent the message.
(‘You say he went to bring Isadora to the party, and
came back in a rage?”Pasqual asked.
When Gabriella nodded, he continued.
“It is much like chess. Do you remember when my
knight placed you in check, Ian?”
Ian grew livid and half-rose from his seat. The young
blonde newcomer held him back with a hand on Ian’s arm.
Pasqual paid no attention whatsoever to Ian’s reaction, other than to comment. “Yes,” he said. “Exactly.
This, it sounds to me, is the same reaction that the
bishop brought with him when he returned to the festivities. Then, rather than countering the move that
infuriated him,” this time Pasqual turned to gaze directly into Ian’s eyes, “he chose to create a new queen
and sacrifice the move.”
Gabriella was silent for a moment, considering this.
“You think she left him?” she asked at last.
‘‘I think,” Pasqual countered, “that one way or another she is gone. I would not be too quick to gift the
Lady Isadora with that sort of independence. She is new
to the blood, and at present, her position with the bishop
is a favorable one. I believe we have to consider that there
is a third party involved.”
“Destroyed,then,” Ian said, regaining his composure
with an effort, “or kidnapped. That becomes the question.”
“Or a lover’s spat?”This from the blonde, the twinkle
back in his eye.
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“Raphael, you are the only one in this entire group
who might believe that,” Gabriella Iaughed. “I’m afraid I
have a hard time picturing Alfonzo allowing Isadora to
disrupt such an important gathering over personal differences. They might have had their problems, but she knew
where her interests lay.”
“Did he hunt?”The gruff, half-garbled words would
have been startling if Gabriella wasn’t so familiar with
the voice, and its source.
“Who,” she replied, questioning, “Alfonzo?No. He
left as soon as the hunt began. Why?”
“Then I think she is ash.”
Gabriella measured her next response carefully.
Gradin was not like Ian, who could be ruffled and patted
and put to bed. Nor was he like Pasqual, coldly calculating and infuriatingly right. Gradin was primal. In ways
Gabriella only sensed, she knew the old Gangrel had insights she could only guess at, and others that she would
not wish upon her worst enemy.
“Why do you say so?”she asked at last.
“He is too angry to hunt, except in private. He is
angry, and there is only one thing to make him so angry.
She is truly dead. If not, he would have hunted. Maybe
not long, maybe only a show, but he would have hunted.”
Pasqual nodded, and Ian watched Gradin with interest. It seemed that there were lessons coming from all sides
this night.
“I agree that this is the most likely scenario,”Gabriella
conceded. “But we have to be careful not to be caught off
guard, if we are wrong. We must get someone in among
his people, and we must, at the same time, look into the
matter of Katrina. If he has created this childe, it is possible he is replacing Isadora, and if that is the case, we
may be able to bend this to our own use. It would be a sign
of weakness, this need for a companion. It is a sign of scorn
that he would steal her out from under Licinius’ nose without so much as an acknowledgement.”
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“What is the end result you desire, Gabriella?”
Raphael asked. “Alfonzo is obviously courting the favor
of many houses. What do you think he has in mind?”
‘‘I don’t know, exactly,” Gabriella admitted. “It is
possible he intends to make a bid to be prince, though
it would be premature to assume this. At the very least,
he is strengthening his position against whatever is to
come next.”
‘‘I do not think I would enjoy a Constantinople
where Alfonzo ruled,” Pasqual observed. “There are others more worthy.”
He turned then, gazing at Gabriella soberly. “Don’t
you agree ?”
Gabriella didn’t answer, but her thoughts were betrayed by the intensity of her gaze. She had played a large
part in the history of the city, and it was obvious that she
did not want her involvement in those affairs to end.
“There will be time to discuss such things soon,” she
said at last. “For now, we need to be certain we understand what we are up against.”
They all nodded. Then Gradin spoke again.
“There is another thing.” He swept his gaze once
around the table, then fixing it on his hands. They were
gnarled, clawed and gave the impression of incredible
strength. “The camps are no longer stable. There is talk of
moving-nothing set in stone, no destination-just the
sensation that it is time for this place to dissolve. The city
is not coming back, and the lunatics are coming out of
the wilds, claiming to have seen every impossible savior,
telling all that they should pull up stakes and move on.
“Others want to build on this place, take root and
begin to grow a new place. Licinius will never allow that.”
Ian nodded. “When I was there last, I heard talk of a
new city, rebuilding in some far-off place that would not
haunt the builders with dreams of former glory, or remind
them of the three. The problem seems to be very much
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the same as that in Constantinople herself. Who will lead?
This place is so full of crackpots and dangerous sects that
to get a consensus is all but impossible.”
Gabriella listened to them with half her mind, the
rest focused back toward the city. What they spoke of was
no secret to her. She had, in fact, considered taking a hand
in trying to direct this migration-making it a pilgrimage
to build a new dream. The problem, as stated, was that it
was impossible to lead a mob of those who hated one another, or who had absolute opposite beliefs. Much easier
to slip into a seat of prominence in a city as it renewed its
strength, guiding that growth and extending power from
a stable base.
She rose at last, her hands resting on the table. They
all regarded her in silence.
“Enough talk, for now,” she said. ‘‘I must return to
the city before daylight, and we all have plans to make. I
will return in two days.”
They all rose then, though only Gradin and Raphael
followed her out through the doorway. They climbed the
stairs quickly and stepped into the last hours of darkness
together. The stables were empty save for the horses and
mules sleeping there, and they guided her mount out to
the road. Gabriella nodded at the two, and swung back
into the saddle.
“Until we meet again,” Raphael said, waving one
hand grandly and performing a bow that would have
looked silly on the form of most men, but that seemed to
fit. Gradin returned her gaze for a moment, but he did
not speak.
Without a word, Gabriella turned and galloped into
the darkness.
*
*
1
Across the courtyard, in the shadows of the inn’s main
building, a dark figure stood, watching Gabriella and the
others in silence. He did not move from the shadows un-
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til long after they had departed. He stood very still, staring into the distance as if he were looking for
something-or remembering.
Most other would have been seen by Gabriella’s
watchers and agents, but this was no regular eavesdropper. Malachite, elder of the Nosferatu of fallen
Constantinople could mold the night into a shroud that
would hide him in plain sight or give him the face of another with unparalleled ease.
As the first hint of the dawn blossomed along the
skyline, Malachite turned, and slipped into the inn
proper, wearing the face of a simple traveler named
Adam, and sought out the Venetian clanmate he’d been
traveling with under that identity. He had been away for
some time, his quest leading him long, lonely disappointing miles. It seemed, perhaps, that he had returned at
the proper moment, if he wanted to be a part of the rebuilding of the dream. There was none other more
qualified to see that it was done properly. There was none
other as pure in vision.
He’d traveled to the camps to await a message from
the oracle who’d set him on his course, but he also needed
companions and helpers, those he could sway to his cause.
Gabriella’s agents were skilled but they could not hide from
him and he had followed them here to see what the woman
had in mind.
It fit well into his plan. As he pulled the doors closed
behind him, he almost smiled.
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Chapter Nine
When Lucita and Anatole set out for Bishop Alfonzo’s
mansion, the dark was incomplete. There was still a light
scattering of those who walked the streets by day, but for
the moment, Lucita ignored them. She was dressed in a
dark cloak that she had pulled up to hide all but her face.
Beside her, Anatole was dressed similarly, but in pale wool,
moving easily with his hands clasped before his chest.
Lucita knew that they were not alone. Anatole’s followers walked the rooftops and the alleys, mirroring their
route and watching shadows that were beyond their sight.
Lucita was growing used to their presence. She had her
own people, but Anatole would never trust them. He was
a good companion, but his ways were his own. She could
accept that or take a separate path.
They moved slowly,taking in their surroundings. The
city was not as bad as it had been in the months directly
after the fall, but it was hardly healed. The old Latin Quarter remained important because it was near the ports, but
with the old housing restrictions lifted, most of the
wealthier merchantshad taken over the homes of displaced
or murdered Greeks. Here, rubble was still strewn across
the floor of every alley, and refuse piled against walls, sometimes stretching into the street itself. There was something
in the air that made Lucita wish her feet did not have to
make contact with the street to pass. The general cast of
the buildings became lower and more debased. The grime
and dirt here were worn in from years of neglect, not
smashed in by falling walls and marching feet. Windows
were dark where elsewhere they would be aglow with
candlelight, and balconies were hung with rags.
There were a few places that had not shut down with
the daylight, dingy taverns and gambling houses. The
scents of sweet mulled wine and smoked meat wafted to
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the street. The hotter scent of blood, pulsing beyond its
cage of skin, was intoxicating. This part of the city was
more alive by night than it was by day.
Alfonzo’s mansion rose above the rooftops it surrounded, at once incongruous and majestic. The rest of
the Latin Quarter leaked out from the roots of the building. Lucita hurried her steps.
“You are too eager,”Anatole chided. “We should have
waited. Alfonzo must believe that we hold something he
wants, but he must also know that the control of what we
hold is our own. Too much haste, and he may sense that
he has the upper hand.”
Lucita slowed her steps slightly. “I’m not concerned
with the timeliness of our arrival,” she replied. “I’m concerned with how he will react. He may not be pleased
that we didn’t send the information we had in the first
message. You are correct that we don’t want to appear
too eager, but neither should we be hesitant. Confidence
is strength.”
Anatole didn’t answer. He walked at her side, scanning each side street carefully. There was a sense
ofG-something-in the air. It was the odd feeling of a presence, as if they were watched, or trailed. The city itself
seemed aware of their passing, and Lucita felt as if their
words, and the pattern of their footsteps,were being transmitted through the very stone. She just couldn’t figure
out to whom.
They reached the walls of Alfonzo’s mansion and
moved along the side, glancing into the gardens and
alcoves as they passed. Lucita made a mental note to
give Alfonzo counsel on the apparent lack of security.
She sensed no guards, though it was possible that she
was not penetrating the gloom deeply enough to do so.
The lack of light would lend strength to the bishop’s
childer, but would hinder any mortals employed. “He
should have more guards,” she said, frowning into the
last of the small gardens.
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“Until the night of his party,” Anatole observed, “he
had no reason. It has been a long time since any has had
the temerity to cross wits or swords with the bishop. Perhaps he has grown too complacent in the aftermath of
the Crusade.”
“That may be the truth of it,” Lucita admitted, “but
it does not change the underlying logic. There are always
enemies. Some are patient, some are not. If you leave your
guard down long enough, one of them will take his opportunity and remove you from the world.”
“Always the cynic,” Alfonzo laughed softly. “Nothing is ever removed. Things change, shift, warp and
recombine.” Lucita would have snorted at this, but she
knew better than to risk casting Anatole into one of his
rants. They were nearing the front entrance, and she threw
back the hood of her cloak. Her long hair fell back over
the soft material, blending with the deep rich color as if it
were part of the fabric.
There was a movement to their left. Anatole turned,
dropping into a crouch. A cry rose from the shadows and
Lucita slid toward the wall, turning her back to the stone
surface and scanning the street. Nothing. There was
nothing to be seen, but the sounds of a struggle rose. It
was coming from back the way they’d come, off to the
left of the road. There was a clang of metal, another quick
cry that cut off before it could really begin, followed by a
dull thump.
Anatole had moved to her side, and keeping close to
the wall, they started back toward the sounds at a run.
Lucita had drawn her blade without thinking, the weight
in her hand familiar and comforting. Anatole held nothing, but she knew he was as dangerous without a weapon
as with one. He was unpredictable. She likened him to a
strike of lightning. Absolutely devastating,and impossible
to predict or plan against.
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They did not have far to go. A sound issued from the
darkness, and Anatole stopped. He put a hand on her
shoulder to draw her up beside him.
“Wait,” he hissed.
He answered the soft cry with one of his own, and
moments later, two figures melted from the deep shadows.
Between them, they dragged something that trailed in the
dirt. As they approached, Lucita saw that it was a body.
Both gripped the man by his hair, and one of the two carried him under his free arm.
They did not speak. They stopped a few feet from
Anatole, nodded and dropped their burden face down in
the street. It was a mortal. He was near death, but not
fully gone. One of the two handed over a box, apparently
taken from their captive,without a sound. The two stepped
back then, awaiting instructions.
“Did he follow us?”Anatole asked sharply.
Lucita recognized the two from the adventure on the
rooftop. One was tall and thin, his flesh closer to desiccated leather than skin. He stooped slightly, and she knew
he was Nosferatu. No other creature on earth could move
so well and look so diseased. His companion was slightly
shorter, very broad and sported a mane of hair that sprung
out from the sides of his head in wild tangles. Lucita met
this one’s gaze, only for a second, and she whispered two
words to herself.
“Another madman.”
“No,” was the simple answer. The Nosferatu spoke
calmly. “This one was trying to find a way inside. He was
in one of the gardens, scratching at a doorway behind a
copse of trees.”
Anatole nodded. He glanced at the box in his hands,
then turned, holding it out to Lucita.
Without hesitation she reached up and flipped the
lid open. She stepped back a half-step, then grimaced.
Inside was what had once been a skull. The bottom of the
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box was littered with ash, but there was enough bone left
that she could make out the forehead, and long strands of
hair wisped from the collapsing bone.
“lsadora.” she said, unable to hide the distaste in her
voice. “My God.”
Anatole shook the box, and the lid fell closed once
more. He turned back the way they had been headed, and
nodded toward the main entrance.
“We will be late,” he said softly.
Lucita nodded and turned, returning to her original
course. She didn’t look back, but the scuffling sound she
-heardbehind her was enough to tell her that the two were
dragging their captive behind. It wasn’t the gift she’d intended to offer to Alfonzo, but it would serve. This, along
with the information they already possessed, should sway
the bishop to the opinion that, at the least, she could prove
a strong ally.
“Can’t they carry him?”she asked Anatole testily. “If
he dies, he will serve no purpose at all, and it will take
days for his blood to wear off of the street.”
Anatole smiled. He made a simple gesture with his
right hand, not looking back, and the scuffling sound
ceased. They continued to the main entrance,
The doors opened as they approached. They had been
expected, and Lucita was pleased to see that-at least on
the surface-they were welcome. The young man, Matteo,
stepped clear of the doorway and bowed low. He did not
meet her eyes, and his face was flushed. None of this was
lost on Anatole, and Lucita grinned.
“Hello, Matteo,” she said softly. “Tell Bishop Alfonzo
that we have brought him an unexpected gift.”
Matteo’s gaze swung up, and, managing to tear his
eyes from Lucita and glance over her shoulder, he saw
the two who followed and what they carried. He eyed
the box in Anatole’s hands warily, then turned back to
Lucita. He nodded.
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“He awaits you in the main hall, milady,” Matteo said,
backing away quickly and leading the way inside. He was
moving so quickly that Lucita couldn’t quite make out his
features, and she didn’t want to push. She sensed his heartbeat speeding, and her smile widened. It seemed she had
made quite the impression.
As they passed inside, Anatole glanced at her
speculatively, but she ignored him. Anatole was wise,
but he didn’t need to know everything. That would
make him boring.
They passed through the foyer and down a dark passage. Lucita could sense the blood that had spilled recently,
and realized what she was sensing was the remnant of the
hunt. She imagined the bodies piling into this hall, scurrying in every direction and seeking misguided solace in
the shadows and alcoves. She could almost hear the voices
of the women as they fled for lives long lost, and she shivered. Alfonzo was a showman, but the show was not
without its merits.
They entered the large hall and immediately Lucita
felt smaller. The room was huge, with a vaulted ceiling
stretching toward the sky and walls so remote they faded
into the shadows that lined them, giving the impression
of the infinite. Across the room, there was a single light.
It was a candle, its flame flickering and dancing above
the surface of a long table. At the head of that table,
leaning against an ornate, carved wooden throne, stood
Alfonzo. He watched their approach in silence, but Lucita
could feel him taking in every motion, every detail. This
was not one to be trifled with. His strength permeated
the room. He had made it his own, and they had entered. No matter what came next, he had that advantage.
Lucita had no doubt there were others in the shadows,
silent and watching.
Ignoring Matteo now that their host was in sight,
Lucita and Anatole strode forward with confidence. De-
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spite the situation, they knew that what they carried, and
what followed behind them, would grant them a degree of
control that they would otherwise not have possessed.
Without a word, Anatole, motioned the two behind
to step between himself and Lucita. They did so, dropping their burden to the floor heavily at the foot of the
table where Alfonzo stood at the head.
“Who is that?” the bishop asked. If he was more than
idly curious, it was impossible to tell it from his voice. If
he was upset that their meeting was starting on such a
note, he gave no indication. He leaned on the huge chair,
watching them carefully, and waiting.
“A good evening to you, as well, Bishop,”Lucita said,
unable to hide the hint of a smile in her voice.
Alfonzo frowned, just for a second, then his mask fell
back into place with an almost audible snap, and he waited.
“We are not sure,” Anatole said at last. “We found
him crawling about the walls of your home. He was carrying this.”
The monk proffered the wooden box, holding it out
so that Alfonzo would have to step nearer, giving up his
position of assumed control, to open the lid. Alfonzo
stared for a long moment, as if considering options, then
he stood upright and stepped around the table, approaching his guests.
“I apologize,” he said, offering his hand, palm up, to
Lucita. ‘‘I am not usually such a poor host. This has not
been an easy time for me.”
Lucita placed her small hand across his,,meeting his
gaze. “It is a hard time for many,”she countered. Without
further ceremony, she reached over and flipped up the lid
of the box Anatole carried. She watched in silence as
Alfonzo looked inside, just for a second, then back. It was
not a movement of disgust, or fear, but of pure anger. Lucita
saw a wash of emotion cross the bishop’s face, very quickly,
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but filled with a rage that thrilled her, and at the same
time put her on her guard.
Anatole flipped the lid closed on the box and placed
it gently on the table.
“Where.. .”Alfonzo said softly.“Where did you get that?”
- Lucita kicked the inanimate form at their feet roughly.
“He carried it,” she said simply. “We only chanced upon
him as we came for our appointed talk.” She hesitated,
trying to gauge Alfonzo’s emotions, the continued. “I am
sorry for your loss. I wish that I could have been here for
the party, but it seems that-perhaps-it
was not such an
ill fate to be absent.”
Alfonzo stared down at the man on the floor. There
was still the faint murmur of a heartbeat. They could all
sense it. The bishop fought for control. The urge to rip
the sack of flesh at his feet into strips and preserve them
to feed to whomever had masterminded the attack was
nearly overwhelming.They hadn’t even come back themselves-they’d sent a mortal-and it had taken guests,
wandering in off the streets, to catch him.
Alfonzo stepped forward and, using the toe of his boot,
flipped the man to his back. He was middle-aged, dark
skinned with a Saracen cast to his features. His eyes were
closed, and his mouth gaped. His lungs labored for breath,
and Alfonzo labored against the urge to flatten them with
a single crushing blow.
“Who is he?” he asked at last. “DOyou know?”
“If you mean do we know his name, or where he has
come from,’’ Lucita answered, “the answer is no. If you
mean do we know who is behind his actions.. . perhaps.”
Alfonzo stared at her. He was obviously warring with
himself, itching to explode with anger, or self-righteousness. The loss of Isadora had had a greater effect on him
than he would let on, but there were emotions that could
not be contained.
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“I assume,” he said at last, “that you have come to
share this information with me?”
“Ofcourse,” Lucita answered quickly. “I would have
sent what I knew with your messenger, but I feared he might
be intercepted. Also, truth be told, I’munhappy that I had
to miss your gathering. I have wanted to speak with you for
some time, but circumstanceshave denied us.”
Alfonzo still watched her, but the antagonistic glint
in his eye had faded to a dull gleam. He stepped back to
the table, reached for a large silver carafe, and poured three
goblets full of its content. Lucita smelled the blood wine,
knew its quality, and she smiled as Alfonzo stepped back
to offer two of the goblets to his guests.
‘‘I am sorry for my lack of hospitality,”he said. ‘‘I have
begun to suspect that things are shifting in the city. Those
I thought to be allies have shown their true colors, and
others I thought to be enemies.. ,”
He let this die and released the goblets as Lucita and
Anatole took them gratefully. Lucita watched the bishop’s
face as he backed away. She could not discern an emotion. He was a master of control.
“Haveyou made any progress seeking Isadora’s killer?”
she asked pointedly. She glanced at the box on the table.
Alfonzo followed her glance, cursed softly, and turned
away. He met her gaze, his expression noticeably colder.
“None.” He admitted. ‘‘I have hunters out, but so
far nothing has been uncovered. They came, and they
left, and their passing seems to have been as unnoticed
as the wind.”
Lucita sipped her wine.
“We have caught the wind,” she commented, flashing a short smile. “Sometimes it is only necessary to be
in the right place at the right time and in the right
company.”
Alfonzo fell silent, waiting.
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Anatole took a half-step forward. “What have you
heard lately, milord, of the Chosen of Calomena?”
Alfonzo stiffened.His countenance darkened, and he
drew up and away. He had gathered strength and appeared
taller-more imposing. Shadows slid from the floor at his
feet to writhe about his ankles, twining upward. Lucita
paid him no heed, and Anatole continued.
“You will forgive my question,” the monk said matter-of-factly. “I know that you have had your problems
with the Chosen in the past. I loathe them, as well. It is
an old grudge, deep and binding.”
“Are you telling me,” Alfonzo asked, “That the Chosen are here? That they have taken Isadora from me and
sent this ...” He fell silent, but he lashed out with one
booted foot, lifting the man at their feet from the ground
and drawing forth a loud groan. He gathered his strength.
“That they have sent me this messenger to taunt me? I
thought that they were gone from the city, possibly gone
for good.”
“They are not gone,” Anatole said softly. “They are
as well and as warped as they ever were.”
Alfonzo took a long draught of the blood wine. He
stared at Anatole, and his stare irritated Lucita into speaking up. She had to hold his attention.
“We were out of the city the night of your feast,” she
said. “As we returned, we were spotted ne’er-do-wells or
intruders crossing the rooftops at high speed, and we pursued. They were leaving your manse, and they were
carrying this.” She stepped forward and opened the box
again for emphasis.
Alfonzo did not look at the box. The stiffening of his
frame showed his desire to take a final glance, the morbid
curiosity her action had brought forward, but he held himself steady. Lucita continued.
“While Anatole killed their leader,” she said, “one of
the others escaped over the wall with the remains.” She
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pulled the pendant free of her robes, holding it out to
Alfonzo. “I killed a third, and we took this from his body.”
The bishop was no stranger to Calomena. Her followers had cost him two valued childer in prior nights.
Now they had cost him a valued companion and partner,
something he might be called upon to explain both to
Prince Licinius and to his own sire, Archbishop Narses.
The Venetian prelate would surely receive reports with
the first fast ship arriving from Constantinople. Very little
escaped Narses’ eye.
Alfonzo took the pendant and held it in his hand.
He obviously recognized it for what it was. The cold, emotionless face of Calomena stared up at him from his palm,
and Lucita sensed the effort it cost him not to crush it
between his fingers.
“You found this wretch at my walls?”he asked at last,
indicating the prisoner.
Lucita nodded. “He was in one of the small gardens
that line your lower story. I would suggest that you place
a series of guards around the periphery of your manse.
Whatever the rules have been since the Greeks fell, they
are shifting.”
She waited as Alfonzo stared at the pendant a moment longer then nodded, stuffing it into his pocket without
asking if it were acceptable to keep it. Lucita’s smile deepened. A debt, however slight, was always an advantage.
The bishop’s countenance had darkened another
shade, and his eyes grew far away. “I do not know if you
have heard the story of my troubles with these.. .vermin,”
he said at last. “It seems I am prone to reliving my own
failures. When I first heard of the Chosen, of their belief
that Caine was a child of the Devil himself, and that
they-the clanless and filthy-were to become the instruments of a holy sibling, this Calomena, I laughed. I
laughed, and I spoke of them as so much dust to be blown
into the night.”
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He spoke at Lucita rather than to her, unable or unwilling to make eye contact while reliving his troubles.
“They are a varied lot. They employ mortals, wild ones
with no sense or sanity. They kill those of the blood indiscriminately. They kill suddenly, and without warning.
Though many of them-including their leader at the time,
Stanislav-are of the blood, they hunt in teams, their belief
a bond spanning even mortality.
“At another party much like that just passed, I lost
two of my closest progeny. Juliano, and Adrianna. They
were not young, but among the first I embraced, and they
looked to me for both wisdom and security. I failed. I
hunted drunkenly that night, staggered to my own safety
before the light, and in that time, the Calomenan
whoresons struck. They came at dawn, slipping in and
barring the route to safety. With the sun at their backs,
they slew my own as I slept, unaware that those I’d laughed
at would laugh last. They were killed, ofcourse, and slowly.
Drained and left in the streets, but that cannot bring back
what is gone.”
Lucita snapped back from the images cast by Alfonzo’s
story as the bishop turned, raised a hand, and summoned
two dark figures from the shadows. Lucita had not sensed
their presence, but Anatole did not seem surprised when
they appeared. The two were both blonde, very similar in
size and appearance, though one was slightly taller than
the other.
“Take this away,” Alfonzo said, gesturing at the box
on the table. “And this.’’ He pointed to the body at his
feet, nudging the man with one booted foot. “See to it
that he does not die before we have a chance to chat.”
The twins, for it was Leonid and Arturo who had
melted from the shadows, did not speak. Lucita met their
gaze as they moved closer, eying Anatole and her with
distrust. Arturo reached for the box on the table, and Leonid squatted, gripped the dying man on the floor by his
ankles and dragged him forward.
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“Carefully,”Alfonzo said, frowning. ‘‘I said that I
wanted him alive. You may have him when I have finished speaking to him, but I want him alive when I am
done here. Am I clear?”
Leonid glanced at Alfonzo for a long moment then
back down at the body he held by the feet. With a shrug,
he bent lower, gripped his captive’s waist in both hands
and lifted him as if he were a feather. With the body carefully held over one shoulder, he moved into the shadows
after his brother, leaving the three to their counsel.
“They are not much for conversation,” Alfonzo said
apologetically, “but they are among my most loyal followers.”
Anatole said nothing. He had not reacted to the twins
in any way. Lucita had turned, watching the two disappear into the shadows, and she turned back to face Alfonzo,
one eyebrow raised.
“Twins?”she asked. “You took them both at once?”
Alfonzo shook his head. “I took one. Isadora took
the other. They are bound, a strange bond, one that I
cannot explain. I have found them to be both a source
of comfort and of strength. They were hunting Isadora’s
killers themselves, but I have held them back. Had I released them to the night, they might have dragged that
one in themselves.”
“I believe they were supposed to,” Anatole said softly.
‘‘I believe a mortal was sent so that there would be no
chance that your guards would not discover him before
he was successful. If he was successful, they would have
told the world how you were outwitted by a mortal. If he
died-which they expected-he would serve the dual
purpose of bringing you the evidence of what they had
done, and providing you with the information of who
they are. We have done that for you, releasing our mortal friend to his fate. The question remains-what will
you do with the information?”
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Lucita held her silence. Anatole had voiced her own
thoughts, possibly more eloquently than she could have
done herself. Alfonzo watched them both then he asked a
question of his own.
“I know that Lady Lucita and I have much to speak
of,” he said at last, addressing Anatole. “I am certain she
is here, at least in part, at the insistence of her sire,
Mongada. I have expected the visit, and I have planned
for it. None of my plans took into account what has come
to pass.
“What I do not understand,” he continued, “is your
own involvement. You’ve turned up at the last minute
in some of the worst moments of our history. Now you
have stepped into my world, dragging behind you evidence that an enemy I thought I had vanquished is
stalking me on my very doorstep. Why should I trust you,
monk? Why should I believe there is any sanity behind
those gray eyes and that ashen cloak? Do you read your
prayers from the Euagetaematikon?”
Anatole held his tongue for a full minute. “They have
hurt me, as well,” he said at last. “They do not play favorites, the Chosen. They believe all the children of Caine
should die, and that they themselves are exempt. They do
not seem to understand that we spring from the same
source. I have had my problems with them in the past.”
“What problems?”Alfonzo was not accepting the
generalities of Anatole’s statement.
“Let me end this by saying,”Anatole replied, his eyes
flashing and his body tensing, setting Lucita near panic,
“that we have both lost a childe to them.”
Alfonzo stared at Anatole in silence. He did not, at
first, seem to be satisfied with the answer, but as it became
obvious that it was the only one he would receive, he relented. Draining his cup, he turned to the table and
reached for the carafe. Lucita smiled, just for a second.
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She drained her glass and when Alfonzo turned back to
them, she held it out.
He filled it without comment, as well as Anatole’s.
“We must put an end to them,” Alfonzo said at last.
“It is enough that we fight among ourselvesover points of
shared belief. We don’t need insane murderers invading
our homes.”
Lucita smiled again, this time letting the expression
leak free as Alfonzo watched. She raised her goblet, waiting for him to meet it with his own. The bishop stood for
a moment, staringat the crystal as it caught the dim candlelight, then reached out and tapped the side of his own
goblet against hers.
“We are well met, Lucita of Aragon,” he said with a
smile. ‘‘I had thought we-might come together under other
circumstances, perhaps even under less than cordial ones,
but it seems the fates have planned differently.”
Lucita nodded slightly and sipped, watching the
candle flame dance. She had to be very careful now. They
were in the door, and they were in the bishop’s good graces,
but she hadn’t even begun to walk her intended trail, and
she had no way to judge which twists it might take once
she did.
“The Chosen are but one of many problems we face,”
she said at last. “The city is coming back to life, but there
is a difference. When the Dream was born, it was controlled. It was carefully crafted and managed. The hands
that held those puppet strings are lost to us, and wolves
prowl the streets, singly and in packs. It is a shame.”
“A shame?”Alfonzo said, watching her as she walked
slowly around the table and came to a stop on the far side,
raising her eyes to meet his gaze. “How so?”
“It is a shame,” she said without looking away, “that
there is no one to take up those strings before it is too
late. Once an arm, or a leg breaks loose of its string, even
the most talented puppet master will fail to make a good
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show of it. This city is on the brink of chaos, and with all
that has gone before, I find it to be a shame.”
“There are many,” the bishop countered, “whowould
say that the so-called Dream was never more than that, a
vaporous image conjured by three doddering old fools, and
that the collapse was the inevitable outcome of placing
too much faith in fantasy and paying too little attention
to the realities of the world.”
“The realities of this world,”Anatole cut in, “tend to
lean in the direction of control. A city, a family, even a
childe-uncontrolled-is
a menace. Nothing powerful can
be built on a foundation without focus.”
Alfonzo sipped the blood wine and contemplated
Anatole’s words, seeking the proper response. He was intrigued, Lucita could see it in the intensity of his gaze and
the tension in his shoulders, but he was wary. There was
no love lost between Venice and Madrid, and Anatole
was a rogue in any pack. There was reason to step lightly,
and Alfonzo walked the moment like a tightrope.
“There are many realities of this world,”he said. “One
reality is that three of our most powerful leaders, three
who were respected and revered as gods, built something
beautiful. For this, eventually,we destroyed two of them.
The third I am told walks free-somewhere, still dreaming of his perfect city. What do you suppose would happen
if he returned? Do you think he could pull together the
childer of his lovers and recreate what has died?Or would
we destroy him too?
“I ask this, because the question becomes very relevant. Will we always destroy those who lead us? And if
so, why would any wish to lead?”
“Leadershiphas its price,”Lucita acknowledged,“but
for myself, I will never believe that it is better to leave the
leadership to others and share only in their dreams. The
past is not the future, though at times it seems to run in
cycles. All things can change. There was a time when this
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might not have seemed true, but all one needs to do is to
step to any window in Constantinople and glance outside
to know the truth of it.”
“There is no new thing under sun or moon,” Alfonzo
intoned. “NO,not one.”
“Say instead,”Anatole commented dryly, “that there
is no eternal thing. If a thing is new to you, what does it
matter if it is new to the world?”
Alfonzo laughed at that, and it was a full-throated
laugh. Some of his caution had slipped away. “Perhapsyou
are right, monk,” he said. “And perhaps there is something to be said for being one who shapesthose new things,
rather than being shaped by them. I have lived here in
the darkest part of this city for a long time. I know the
heartbeat, the veins and the extremities of the lowest levels. I know who knows who, who knows what, and how to
bend all of it to my whim.
“The mortals who come to me do so because they
believe I am the embodiment of the wrath of God. If they
do not believe this, they believe I will make them rich, or
powerful. The thieves and the whores cross themselves
and bless me when my name crosses their lips. The taverns remain open and the market thrives because I have
engineered it. The dream has become the nightmare, and
in that transition, those who lived on the fringes of nightmare have come into their own. These are my people.
“DOyou know that there are Gangrel in the alleys?
Do you know that, though they have crawled all the way
from Austria on their four feet, hair sprouting like mangy
hyenas and eyes dog-yellow, they answer only to me? Do
you know that there are Toreador walking the streets,
Michael lost to them and the dream fading, who have
shifted their music to other tunes, and their minds to darker
pleasures-pleasures I control?
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“This city was once so grand. So proper and full of
itself. Now, brought to her knees, Constantinople has
been brought down to another level . My level, and if
she is to get up again, I believe she will do so with my
collar at her throat.”
Alfonzo’s eyes were gleaming, and Lucita held her
silence.
“I cannot do this alone,” Alfonzo said at last. “AS
painful as that is to admit, I am what I am. I have
strengths, and I have a great deal of power in this twilight city, but I am not the only one that will be listened
to. I am not the only one with influence, and there are
those as far away as Rome and as close as Adrianople
who would walk t o t h e throne of the new
Constantinople, whatever it might resemble, by placing
their boots firmly on the back of my head.”
He turned to Lucita, staring pointedly. ‘‘I would have
placed your sire on that list, and you as a likely candidate
to take those steps.”
The moment had arrived. Lucita took a final sip, then
met the bishop’s gaze steadily. “I am not cut of the proper
cloth to rule,” she said simply. “I would wither and die at
such a task, and my sire is well aware of this. I am his, but
I am also my own. Do you not have the support of Narses
himself to fall back on? Surely this is enough.. .”
“Narses covets Constantinople,” Alfonzo admitted,
“but whether he does so through me or another-I am
uncertain that this matters to him. There are times when
his convictions,” Alfonzo stopped, sipped his blood wine,
and thought for a moment, glancing away into the shadows, “are stronger than any ties of blood. I am not certain,
were I to present him with dominion over the city, that
he would not draw me away and place another in that
seat of power. One he could more easily control.”
“YOU need not present it to him,” Lucita suggested
carefully, “or to anyone. You might find support in places
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you had not expected. You might find that those convictions-the ones that Narses would put before blood-are
less of a draw than they once appeared.”
She hesitated, then continued. “I hear they have
sighted Caine near the camps.”
Alfonzo snorted, nearly spitting wine. “Yes,” he
laughed. “They have spotted Caine, and I’m certain the
Chosen you chased across the rooftops would speak of
how Calomena herself walks atop the city by night.
They say that Michael has come and spoken to those
who still believe, and that the three will reunite beyond final death to make a more perfect union than
they did at the founding of the city. Next, they will say
that Jesus has come among us, offering his blood in return for a roll in a hay barn.”
T h e y are a people without a purpose,” Lucita said
softly. “The camps were a temporary haven that would
house them until the city regained its feet. Those feet were
cut out from under her. The Constantinople they are awaiting will never return. They should move on.”
Alfonzo stared at her. “Move on?To where?Shouldn’t
they come back to the city, to their homes?”
“Their old existence is gone,” Lucita said with certainty. “They must follow whatever dream has replaced
the one that has fallen. They must be given that dream,
that purpose, and set upon the road away from here. The
Frenchman Hugh of Clairvaux tried to give them a new
crusade, but left them adrift. Before the future of the city
can begin, the past must be put to rest. They are a danger,
fermenting like barrels of bad wine, so close to Adrianople
that they leak beneath her walls. They will remain a danger, growing wilder and less stable as time passes. They
must leave, and soon.”
Anatole had listened in silence, but he spoke now.
“They were cast out by a crusade and left strandedby
another. They should move on in a pilgrimage. Their faith
in this city is shattered.The leaders they trusted are gone-
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some destroyed, the rest dispersed or lost forever. What
they have now is a fanatic desire to believe in something,
in someone-and they will not turn thisdirection for that
belief. Whatever becomes of Constantinople, in their
minds it will ever fall short of the dream.” He looked directly at Alfonzo. “And who are we to assume all their
visions are empty? Is it wise for the progeny of Caine to
deny the possibility that he might speak to any of us?That
might be a dangerous oversight. Better to say that it would
be in our interest if those he spoke to were located further
from our own doorstep.”
Alfonzo remained silent. I t was obvious from the tilt
of his head and the glint in his eye that he was deep in
thought, and Lucita thought it wise to leave him with
those thoughts, before anything could happen to tilt the
scales in some other direction.
“I have enjoyed this talk,” she said, “and I am sorry
that it took a loss such the one you have suffered to bring
us together.”
Alfonzo regarded her openly, attempting to see
through the layers of her words and her masked emotions
to the plot beneath. Lucita allowed the appraisal, standing calmly. Anatole appeared to be lost in thought-or
bored. Perhaps he was still thinking about the camps.
‘‘I thank you,” Alfonzo said at last, “for what you have
brought me, and for your words. I will think on what you
have said. Perhaps there is more merit in your counsel
than I would previously have believed. We must speak
again, and soon.”
“And the Chosen?” Anatole cut in. “Whether you
hunt them or not, I will not let this rest.”
Alfonzo’s face darkened. “If they are hidden within
this city,”he said, “I will find them and I will destroy them.
They have to answer to me twice, and I will not let it pass.
If you would allow it, I will send Arturo and Leonid to
hunt with whatever party you organize.”
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“Can they be trusted?”Anatole’s words were icy, and
Lucita feared he had gone too far, just on the verge of
success. Alfonzo stiffened, then smiled.
“In as far as they fear me, they can be trusted. They
were absolutely devoted to Isadora. You can count on them
in any hunt for her killers.”
Anatole nodded. “Tomorrow night,” he said. “If you
can gather intelligence before that, all the better.”
Alfonzo nodded, dismissing the subject, and turned
to Lucita. “What of Mongada? You have said little of
your sire.”
“Archbishop Mongada would see a Lasombra on
the throne of this city,” she replied flatly. “He would
not support Narses, because he is not a fool. He does
not fear Genoa, but neither is he going to trust. There
is the possibility, however, that he might trust one working in his own interests. It is hard to mistrust that brand
of honesty.”
Alfonzo laughed again. “Indeed,”he agreed. “Indeed
it is. Go in peace, Lucita of Aragon.” He raised his arm
again, and this time it was Matteo who emerged from the
shadows. He came to stand directly at his master’s side.
“See them to the door,” Alfonzo said with a wave of
his hand. He turned then, disappearing into the same shadows from which Matteo had appeared.
Matteo was staring openly at Lucita, something dancing just beyond his eyes, a question he would not ask, but
that begged to be plucked from his mind and answered.
She smiled, and turned toward the door, striding off without looking back. Anatole was at her side, and Matteo
scurried to catch up, flushed with embarrassment and
something deeper, cutting through his being.
Deep in the shadows, Alfonzo paused and watched
the exchange in his hall. He frowned slightly, as Matteo
staggered after their guests. Then, thinking of Katrina
waiting in the rooms above and of the hunt they would
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share before the dawn, he dismissed the matter from his
thoughts. He could hardly blame Matte-Lucita
was
beautiful. Beautiful and full of unexpected surprises.
*
*
*
Lucita could not quite restrain her frustration. “You
almost snapped, Anatole. You could have ruined it all.”
They had returned to Lucita’s haven on the edge of the
old Latin Quarter, away from prying ears-she hoped.
“DOnot worry,” he answered. “Alfonzo is well suited
for your games.”
“Malleable,” she said with a smile.
“Faithless, rather.”
“He wears the robes of a bishop,” she pointed out.
“Although a heretic, I’m not sot sure-”
“A heretic at least has the courage of his convictions,”
Anatole answered, “but he is no heretic. Have you ever
read the Cainite Heresy’s supposed holy texts?”
Lucita thought uncomfortablyof the religious instruction she’d suffered at her sire’s hands. That had been more
than enough guidance for her. “No.”
“It is dangerous and demented, simultaneously denying the physical aspects of Caine and lauding the embrace
as not only sacred, but a universal good. A transformation
to be imposed on all the world.”
‘‘I had thought you saw God’s work in our condition?”
“Yes,certainly, but that the Curse of Caine can be channeled toward serving God does not prevent it from being a
curse. The Heretics preach the embrace erases sin and foresee a world when all the living share in its sacrament.”
“Alfonzo’s taste in entertainments would certainly fit
with a belief in which he were immune from sin,” she said.
“True, but the heretics preach other matters, as well.
This grand spread of the blood of Caine will come with
the reappearance of the Dark Father himself. Their scholars have even called a date for His rebirth into flesh. They
calculate it to be one thousand two hundred and six years
after his last incarnation, as the Christ.”
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“But then.. .”
“Yes, this year. The stories of Caine in the camps are
drawing heretics like flies and the refugees to the Heresy.
But Alfonzo-”
“Dismisses the stories out of hand,” Lucita completed.
“Indeed.”
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Chapter Ten
Alfonzo stood on the highest walls of his mansion,
staring out over the streets, hovels, secrets and refuse of
the Latin Quarter. It had not been so long since he’d
thought of Juliano and Adrianna, childer lost to the Chosen of Calomena before the fall of the city. It had not
been so long, and yet it seemed an eternity. So much had
come and gone in the interim. So many things had fallen
or gone away. Stanislav was certainly gone, slain and gone
to final death. It seemed that his legacy lingered.
The killing of Isadora had been a symbolic slap in
the face. Returning the head in a box was nothing more
than a way of showing contempt, taunting the bishop
into-what? An attack? A war? The Chosen had been
ordered from the Latin Quarter years ago, but in the chaos
of the fall of the Greek Empire and the rise of the Latin,
they could easily have returned. What was an order to
one who believed he movsd with divine right?What would
Alfonzo’s orders be against the promise that dark Calomena
would slip in one night from the wilderness and rise to
take her rightful throne, deposing those who followed her
brother Caine, and smiting vampire and mortal alike in
her fury?
Neither his orders, nor the fear of his wrath had been
enough to stay their hands in the past. He had learned
that lesson on the hard road, twice now. He had no intention of walking it a third time. If Calomena existed, and
she was sending her dogs into his world, that was fine with
him. Let them come. This time he would show them what
Caine’s legacy truly meant in a way even the Dark One’s
sibling might understand.
Still, there was something not quite right. The gesture of Isadora’s death-for that is what it was, in the end,
no more than a gesture to them-was very calculated, and
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calculation had not been Stanislav’s weapon, or that of
his followers. It was odd, as well, that Monqada’s childe
would be the one to point out the focus behind the attack. And Anatole. Where did the mad one play into all
of it? Too many riddles, and at a time when Alfonzo had
other matters on his mind.
He had been rash to take Katrina as his childe. If he
had merely killed her, as intended, and discarded her remains along with those of her foolish lover, then no ripple
would have been made in society. No one would begin
to question his motives, his plan behind the plan. No
one would wonder if he had brought this girl-this highborn of Adrianople-into his house with the intent to
slight the prince of that city, or to spirit her from beneath his nose. He’d yet to send word to Licinius, but
caution urged Alfonzo not to delay much longer. He had
acted rashly, but the solution was not to follow up with
inaction or hesitation.
Still, there was the chance that Licinius would not
even take note of it. He had not spoken for the girl, and
in fact, she had been on her way out of the city within
days to be raised by nuns, away from the temptations
and machinations of court. Latins and Bulgars still threatened Licinius’ domains. For Alfonzo to throw himself in
amidst all of that might simply complicate a matter already in control.
It had been nearly twenty-four hours since he
watched Lucita and the monk depart. He’d sent the twins
to the streets, then, noses to the ground like a couple of
hunting hounds. News of the Chosen. News of Lucita
herself. News of any sort involving the bishop, but first,
and foremost, news of the cowardly vermin who’d taken
Isadora from him.
Katrina was growing in strength, and rapidly. She was
perhaps even more beautiful than Isadora had been, but
she was young in both blood and years, impatient and
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immature. She would take time to mold into a companion of any sort, were that her fate. She had much to learn,
and still a bit of what she had been to leave behind.
Alfonzo was uncertain of his own patience in the matter.
He was growing restless, tiring of the simple games of the
Latin Quarter, and wary of the powers raising their heads
about him.
That Lucita remained in Constantinople after
Tommaso Brexiano’sdeparture spoke volumes on the concerns of Madrid. That Lady Gabriella continued to hang
at the outskirts of all that was happening, keeping quietly
to herself at her villa on the Golden Horn, but extending
her claws into the camps near Adrianople, was another
sign. Alfonzo was well aware of her machinations in that
quarter, not that she’d made any particular secret of it.
And the camps themselves were becoming a problem. They were taking on too much of the aspect of a
lasting settlement. They were attracting every mindless
cult and wandering madman the land had to offer. It was
only a matter of time before they all sought more permanent settlement, and Constantinople was still too
unorganized to resist them. It was only the five-nights’
travel that had kept the refugees from flooding back over
the last year, and the zealots seemed less intimidated by
that distance. Their words already carried weight in the
night streets of the capital. The past had shown, time and
again, that not all madmen were mad. The longer those
camps remained, the greater the chance some real threat
would rise from their midst.
Alfonzo didn’t know if the camps were the hole that
the Chosen had crawled from, but his own spies had told
him of mortals walking the streets of the city, claiming to
have been in the camps by night and to have seen
Calomena stalking the children of Caine and drawing her
followers to her side. He had heard rumors of others, as
well: Michael the Patriarch returned from beyond to re-
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build his city; Caine appearing in dreams worrying to lead
a final crusade of his own children against the powers of
the land. None of it was anything to Alfonzo but cabinfevered madness, but there, again, was the complacency
that had cost him so dearly. It mattered less whether Caine
spoke to those in the camps than whether they believed
he did. It mattered less whether Caine’s sister would slay
every damned soul in the city than it did what the thought
of that wrought in the minds of the mindless.
It was time for those outside the cities to decide. They
must return to rebuild on the crumbled ruins of what had
once been, or they must move on. There were ways, he
knew, to stir them. He could play into their very superstitions, start rumors of his own. The Red Pentecost, a key
ceremony in the Cainite Heresy, had already been celebrated in the camps more than once. He could harness
those mad preachers with his own heretical authority. It
was so easy to convince the faithful that you believed.
It didn’t matter to Alfonzo where they went, only
that they left. He had his own worries. Narses, for one,
grew impatient with the progress of the new Byzantium. If
Constantinople was to be rebuilt, then Narses intended
to figure prominently, and he expected that influence to
come to him through Alfonzo. Always through another
now, never by direct intervention. Alfonzo was beginning
to suspect that his sire saw nothing in his childer but pieces
on some grand game board, moving them here and there
but never risking anything more than a few of those same
pieces-nothing personal. Never sharing what was won,
only the losses.
Alfonzo glared out at the city. Behind him, he heard
soft steps and felt the soft breeze of Katrina’s approach.
She moved slowly, tentatively. Alfonzo stiffened, then
relaxed. Whatever the problems of Constantinople, he
could not hope to solve them all in a single night. Better
to solve more immediate needs, and leave some of what
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was to come to those he trusted. Taking Katrina by the
hand, he slipped into the interior of his chambers, through
the outer doors and into the halls beyond.
*
*
*
The twins moved as one, their long, loping strides
in perfect sync, their bodies low to the ground like animals on a scent. There was no scent, of course, not at
this late date, and in any case, they were not Gangrel.
Still, it was their nature to slink, to move in opposite
directions toward a common center, hunting in tandem.
They were a product of the bond that had grown between Alfonzo and Isadora, but they were much more
than that, as well. They had been born twins, and they
had been reborn as darker twins.
Now they had a single purpose. They carried two
things. Arturo held the small pendant of Calomena tightly
in one hand, and Leonid held a sliver of carved wood from
the box that had held what remained of Isadora’s skull. By
now, it would have held only dust-if Alfonzo hadn’t
smashed it into the back of one of the mansion’s huge
fireplaces the moment they’d left.
The bishop’s instructions had been clear. Find those
responsible, and destroy them. No questions were to be
asked, no prisoners taken. Anything that was found would
be reported, of course, but by the twins alone. No others
would hunt with them-not that they would have allowed
it-and no others were to hear what they found before
Bishop Alfonzo himself.
They had moved through the streets quickly and viciously, dragging mortal and Cainite alike into the alleys
to show them the tokens they carried. The story was the
same everywhere they went. No matter how much pressure the two exerted-and more than once they exerted
enough that they were forced to move to a new source of
information-either no one knew the whereabouts of the
Chosen, or no one would tell.
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The twins had begun searching near the center of
the Latin Quarter, choosing first the darkest side streets
and the least-traveled roads, and worked their way outward in a slow spiral. More than once they’d been forced
to secret themselves in a dark alcove or on a rooftop to
await the passing of some other, grander predator. These
were all familiar dangers, not enemies exactly, but not any
the twins would have cared to trouble over this search.
They were waiting above the streets, watching from
a dark balcony leading into an empty, decrepit room when
two voices rose from below, and the twins slid to the edge
of the balcony, crouched and ready, listening. The voices
were not familiar, but they were calm. Whoever it was,
they were not frightened by the prospect of traveling the
Latin Quarter by night, thus they were to be respected.
For the moment.
“I’m telling you,” a gruff voice nearly spat, “Alfonzo
is no fool. He will remember these Chosen, and he will
not sit still for this. What could they possibly hope to gain?”
“You are no doubt correct,” a lighter voice replied,
“but still I’d like to know who is behind it, Gradin. I, for
one, don’t believe that the Chosen exist anymore. Or,”
he hesitated a second, “if they do, I don’t believe they
have changed from the fanatical hatred of all the childer
of Caine to a personal vendetta against the bishop.’’
“Raphael, you are too quick to dispose of revenge as
a motive. Their own leader is dead, this Stanislav. Alfonzo
is reputed to have had a hand in that.”
‘‘I discount nothing,” Raphael responded. “It just
doesn’t ring true this time. Too much planning, too much
care. I have heard stories of the Chosen, how they train
mortals in their ways and send them raving into crowds
before the temples and synagogues, slaying at random,
crying out to their dark savior to deliver them. Dying
like dogs.”
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At that moment, at a quick nod from Arturo, Leonid
dropped over the edge of the balcony to light on the ground
a few feet ahead of the pair. His twin dropped to their
rear, sliding into the shadows. Both moved silently, but
Gradin had dropped to a crouch with the first whistle of
flesh through the air, and Raphael had drawn up against
the wall on the far side of the street, shoulders pressed to
stone, fist wrapped tightly about the hilt of his sword.
“Who are you?”he asked, watching Leonid carefully.
“Who is that with you?Have him show himself.”
Arturo made no move to do so, at first, taking a moment for effect. The effect was nearly lost, as Gradin
trembled, ready to launch to his left, where he sensed
Arturo hovering in a porticoed entrance.
Leonid stepped into the center of the street. “Justwho
you are is the question,” he said, his voice low and whispered, though it carried down the deserted street
powerfully. “Who are you to speak so of His Excellency,
and what do you know of Calomena?”
Raphael pushed free of the wall, but he did not release his blade.
“Who are you to ask?”he replied, though he knew
full well. Such as the twins would be nearly impossible to
hide, even in the Latin Quarter, and rumor of their hungers, and their oddities had spread to the camps, and very
likely beyond. No reason to let them know they’d been
recognized too soon, so Raphael repeated his question.
“Who are you to ask?”
“We seek those who have done harm to our bishop,”
Arturo cut in from the side. “We seek news of their location, or their movements.”
“And you have found nothing?” Gradin asked, stepping closer to Raphael, so they both stood with their backs
protected by the same wall. Neither was especially concerned by the pair they faced, but they were cautious. There
were the stories, after all.
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“We have found what we have found,” Arturo said,
strutting closer. “We have found the two of you skulking
about the streets and talking of our Lord as if it were your
business. That is more than nothing, I think.”
“Oh, much more,” Leonid agreed, slipping up to his
twin’s side. “Far more. Maybe you know more than you
pretend? Maybe you knew we were hunting and thought
you’d toss a few words to the wind and draw us down?’
“If that had been our plan,” Raphael laughed suddenly, “We would certainly seem a success in our
endeavors.”
Arturo scowled. “Perhapsyou underestimate what you
do not know,” he said softly. “We have our orders.”
“You would be equally well counseled to know your
enemies,”Gradin growled, growing impatient. “YOUhave
no quarrel with us, nor we with you. Nor do we care a
whit about the Chosen, other than that they are on the
lips of all we pass. Where are they? W h y are they here?
Are they here? Why do they target the bishop?”
“The same questions,” Raphael added hastily, “that
you seem to be attempting to answer. You say you have
been hunting? May I ask, how far?How long?None know
these back streets as the two of you, or so I am told. What
news do you bring?”
“If we had news,” Leonid stood a bit straighter, “We
would share it only with our Lord Alfonzo. As it happens,
we have none. Only the further reaches of the Quarter
remain, and if we find nothing-then they lay beyond.
The city itself, some other den-the camps.”
“We have word from the camps,” Raphael spoke up
quickly. Gradin glared at him, but he continued without
hesitation. “There is talk there of the Chosen, of course.
It is much as here, though. Talk. As far as I’ve seen, or
heard, there is no stronghold of the Chosen in the camps,
and if there were, it would not be easy to hide. For one
thing, their mortal followers are not given to caution or
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silence. So I’m told. All we hear are rumors, and most of
those are of the city, and the Quarter.”
The four stood, facing off uncertainly. It was obvious
that the twins were itching for a reason to start trouble.
Gradin himself seemed unopposed to the idea, but Raphael
was the very vision of stability and reason. He knew
Gabriella would never forgive them the wasting of such
an opportunity to delve more deeply into Alfonzo’s affairs,.and she would be furious if they angered the bishop
by killing his favorite pair of hunting dogs for no more
reason than that they were irritating. Besides, they were
not on an idle stroll, and the night was passing.
If things went sour, the two would be but a moment’s
entertainment for Gradin-another fact they needn’t give
away too easily, even to Gabriella herself. She knew them
only as travelers seeking a cause. No reason she should
know their heritage, and a thousand she should not.
“How do we know you do not lie?”Arturo said at last.
“Howdo we know you haven’t come from the Chosen themselves on a second mission to our lord?How do we know
you don’t bring another death to Alfonzo’s house?”
“Death?”Gradin said, his word half a question, half
an exclamation of surprise. “Whose death? We knew of
no death, only that you sought the Chosen, and that they
had disrupted Alfonzo’s party.”
Leonid looked uneasy, but Arturo continued. “The
Lady Isadora,” he said softly. “My sire, Isadora. She was
destroyed by the vermin who bore this.” He held forth the
pendant, an icon of Calomena, and Raphael committed
the design to memory. “They came in a group, stole in
like rats over the walls, and they killed. For this, they will
be destroyed.”
Raphael blinked and said, “I did not know that she
was your sire,” he said softly, “nor did I know, until this
moment, that she had met her final death. We had heard
rumors this was possible, but there were other rumors, as
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well. No one is certain what took place that night, only
that the bishop was very upset by it.”
“You would do well,” Leonid said, grippinghis brother
by the arm and pulling him away gently, “to forget that
you know it now. I t does us no harm that they are unaware. His Excellency is not without enemies, and it is
perhaps better that he not appear to have suffered tcm great
a loss.”
As he spoke, Leonid gazed deep into Raphael’s eyes.
He seemed to be waging an inner struggle, and for just a
second, an expression of confusion crossed Raphael’s features. Then this cleared, and he smiled, nodding to the
twin, and winking. “We never met,” Gradin said roughly,
pushing away from the wall and eyeing Leonid and Raphael
curiously. He hadn’t missed their silent exchange. “We
never spoke, and we two have no further interest in yourselves, or the Chosen.” He hesitated, waiting to see how
his words would be received.
Raphael bowed low, though his gaze never left the
two faced off against him, and he spoke a final time.
“Good hunting,” he said.
The twins stood uncertainly, wanting more from the
chance meeting, but sensing that they had gained all there
was to gain. It seemed that Arturo suddenly became as
aware of the passing darkness as Raphael himself, and he
took a step back.
“We have no more time for questions,” he said, as
though it had been Raphael and Gradin who had detained them, and not the reverse. “There is not long
before the dawn.”
Without a further word he turned and leaped at the
nearest wall, sending tendrils of shadow before him like
the tentacles of some ancient kraken. His twin leaped scant
seconds after, and in perfect time. A second set of shadows reached the walls, sliding up like vines grown rampant,
weaving with those of his brother until the shadows were
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so completely meshed that the wall was obscured. One
moment they had stood, haughty and distrustful, the next
they were gone, leaving only a small trail of dust to trickle
down from the rooftop in their passing.
“So,”Raphael, said, turning slowly to his companion, “Isadora is indeed murdered.”
Gradin was silent. He turned and continued the way
they’d been traveling, lost in thought. After a few short
blocks, they turned left into an alley, skirted around a pile
of refuse and came to a halt beside what appeared to be a
solid wooden wall. Rats scurried from beneath their feet,
and the stench of rotting food was horrible.
Gradin reached up and smacked the palm of one hand
into the wall three times. He paused, then knocked once
more. A louder thump that echoed through the darkness.
A panel slid open in the wall, and the two slipped
inside, letting the wall snap back into place behind them
as if it had never opened. The rats returned to feasting on
the piles of garbage, and the moon passed overhead, on
her way to dawn.
*
*
*
The club‘s interior was dim. Smoke wafted from the
main room, where meat was being roasted and served to
an unsavory mortal clientele. In the corners and at the
ends of the bars, small groups of patrons met. Gradin shouldered his way to the bar between two burly men and
planted his elbows on the bar. Raphael slipped up beside
him, taking advantage of the hole his partner had brought
about, but shaking his head at the lack of subtlety.
Gradin growled at the rat like bartender, who only
glanced up long enough to pin the voice to a face before
moving through the curtains behind the bar and into a
back room. This was an establishment that catered to all
the needs of the Quarter, and the two were well known.
There was no need to place an order.
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A moment later, the man returned. He held a large
iron key in one hand, but he did not offer it immediately.
“Who’s paying?”he said, glancing up at Raphael, past
Gradin’s groping hand. “Last time I saw the two of you, I
ended up with an empty purse and a cuff to the side of the
head for my trouble. I’m not falling for your game twice.”
“And well you should not,” Raphael replied, smiling
widely. “Ofcourse, you realize that was a terrible misunderstanding. I thought my friend here,” he gestured at
Gradin, who was rolling his eyes in exasperation, “had
paid you upon our arrival, or I certainly would not have
given you the trouble that I did on our departure.”
“Who’spaying?”the man repeated, taking a step back
toward the curtains. “No gold, no key.”
This time Gradin did growl, and started over the
counter after the impertinent barkeep, Raphael restrained
him carefully. It was a long-practiced dance, and Gradin
allowed himself to be held back, barely. His eyes were red
flecks of fire, and his lips were parted, as if he were panting with hunger.
‘‘I understand your concern,”Raphael said again, “but
there is no need to be rude. My friend, as you can see, is
very hungry. If we don’t do something about this soon,
and I assure you, I mean very soon, then I can’t be held
responsible for the outcome.”
The man stared at him, unflinching.
“It has been a very long time,”Raphael added. Gradin,
meanwhile, was trying again to climb over the bar and
grasp the key. The man was backing slowly again, glancing uncertainly over his shoulder. Raphael knew that,
while the bar was tended by mortals, they would not be
the only force to reckon with. Their actions were staged,
intended to create the diversion that they were creating,
and no more. Judgingthat they’d gone far enough,Raphael
reached into a pouch at his side, widening his smile.
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“Here, here,” he said, tossing a small handful of gold
coins to the man almost carelessly. “I really don’t see what
you are going on about. It isn’t as though we were trying
to steal from you, now is it?“
The man didn’t respond, but he caught the coins
deftly from the air, and they disappeared into the folds in
his clothing in an amazing display of dexterity. Without
another word, he stepped forward,not quite close enough
for Gradin to reach him, and tossed the key. Gradin, who’d
been waiting for just such a move, stepped back and caught
it, straightened himself and nodded to the bartender.
Raphael watched as his shorter, stouter companion
turned away from the bar and made his way toward the
back of the building. Gradin was holding the key where
anyone watching would see, twirling it around one finger
and licking his lips. There were murmurs, grunts, and a
few short bursts of laughter at his passing. Raphael watched
until Gradin had disappeared into the shadowed netherregions of the bar, where a heavy satin curtain covered a
doorway leading to the rooms in back. Each room was
equipped for the particular needs of the customer. The
room Gradin would open with his key would have chains
on the walls, a young, very alive meal dangling, and privacy for the meal.
Gradin’sroom would have something more. The bartender, while he knew every nook and cranny of this pit,
and most of the faces that slid in and out of it, did not
know everything. He didn’t know, for instance, that
Gabriella was the money behind the place. He didn’t know
that the very capable bouncers in the next room reported
as often to Raphael himself as to anyone, and he didn’t
know that the annoying, cocky, and far-too-cleverCainite
he served so often was checking up on his operation, the
darker sides of other patrons, and checking for messages
from Genoa, which would arrive in the form of the snackof-the-dayhanging in a certain room, at a certain hour. It
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was better this way, and certainly best that Alfonzo know
little or nothing of the place.
The bishop’s people frequented the club as often as
any, but they assumed it to be just another part of the
Quarter under their master’s sway. Alfonzo exacted tribute for his protection, and made it very clear that without
his protection, he was the thing they must fear the most.
Gabriella made certain that the fees were paid on time,
and proper obeisance was shown. Even the bartender believed he was Alfonzo’s man.
The other regulars thought they knew Raphael and
Gradin well. They knew the two would steal the beard
from a blind beggar given the chance, that they were hungry, bloodthirsty and fought dirty, and that they enjoyed a
good time. They could be counted on to bilk the bartender
out of the payment for whatever form of late-night entertainment they favored in a given moment, to start at least
one fight and to entertain everyone. Already wagers were
hitting tables all over the room on how long before Gradin
returned, and in what kind of humor.
Raphael’s smile widened, just for a moment, and he
called to the bartender for a glass of the house’s special
wine. The man eyed him with equal parts distrust, and
distaste, and Raphael barely contained a laugh. Of all the
checkpoints he and Gradin would hit in the period of a
week, this was one of his favorites. The two had worked
their act to perfection over a period of years, but it never
ceased to amaze him how much simple fun could be found
in making fools of others.
Raphael turned his back to the bar and scanned the
crowd, looking for any new, interesting or important faces.
The usual crowd was tossing a set of bone dice on the
comer table, and a small group of dark-cloaked soldiers
leaned back heavily in solid wood chairs circling a wooden
table near the center of the room. They were getting louder,
calling for drinks almost as often as they bellowed in laugh-
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ter at one another’s increasingly slurred commentarieson
life, love and the other patrons of the tavern. Spoiling for
a fight.
Raphael glanced toward the back of the room, but
there was no sign of Gradin. With a sigh that barely dipped
the tips of his smile, he pushed off the bar, raised his goblet in a mock-salute to the bartender who’d yet to quit
watching him warily. He took a gulp and moved closer to
the table where he could hear the soldiers more clearly.
They were mortal mercenaries, either come here with
the Crusade or to fight the Bulgars and Greeks, but they
had fallen into the service of the night-born prelate who
lived near here. The conversation of the moment was centered on certain of the serving women who served in the
bishop’s kitchens, and the lack of social graces and morality among the same. Raphael listened intently, wondering
if they’d slip into any details more intriguing than rubbing their hairy flesh against that of the wilting or
not-so-willingwomen of Alfonzo’s house. One of the men
glanced up and caught sight of Raphael standing nearby.
“What are you looking at?” the man grunted. “GO
back to the bar, little man, and bring me beer. You do that
for me, maybe I won’t use you to show my men here what
young Helena and I were about last night.”
Raphael’s smile widened perceptibly. He took another
gulp of his wine.
“As tempting as that offer is,” he said with a half bow,
‘‘I will have to beg off. I rarely involve myself in bending
over tables with so fresh an acquaintance, and in any case,
I have a preference for the young, slender, and athletic.”
Raphael stepped closer again, and he watched the
man carefully, intrigued by the way the blood rushed to
fill the ruddy features, and the way those features contorted into a very presentable likeness of a gargoyle in a
very short amount of time.
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“Really, though,” Raphael continued, “you do have
the advantage here. It seems you have liberated and carted
away with you at least one barrel of beer already,”he nodded at the man’s prodigious gut, “so you’ll not go thirsty if
I decide not to be your waiter this night.”
The soldier’s friends were pushing back a bit from the
table, making no move to help their friend, but leering at
Raphael with expressions that clearly said they did not
believe he would be with them much longer. Raphael set
his goblet carefully on the table.
“You talk like a girl, or a pretty boy,” the soldier
growled, wiping a ham-sized fist across his filthy lips. “I
don’t know which 1 hate more.”
“My, you are having a bad night.” Raphael brought
his hand to his chin, tilting his head to one side, as if in
deep thought. “DOyou think maybe your belt is too tight?
Your boots the wrong size?I really don’t know what I can
do to help.”
The man roared, lurching from his seat and reaching
for Raphael, or where Raphael had stood. The man
stumbled into the next table, his belly striking wood and
whipping his chin down to crash into the table’s surface
directly beside a wine goblet belonging to a tall man
Raphael recognized as a Lasombra trader.
Raphael moved in quick as a cat. He caught the spinning goblet, stopped it and replaced it on the table with a
glance that said “I’m sorry, but what can I do?” to the
Cainite, and grabbed the soldier by his dark, filthy hair.
He lifted the man carefully from the neighboring table,
not spilling any further drinks, and turned him easily, holding him at arm’s length as he watched the blood that had
been so eager to suffuse those porcine features draining
back toward his feet.
“You slipped,” Raphael observed, tossing the man
back toward his chair, where he hit with a thump, crashed
into the back of the chair, and tipped over backward, boots
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flipping into the air. As he did so, he kicked the table,
sending it crashing over toward his friends, beer and wine
flying. Raphael nimbly plucked his goblet from the air as
it flew up, turned, winked at the Lasombra whose wine
he’d already saved, and took another drink.
Now there was pandemonium. The rest of the mercenarieshad decided at once that Raphael was more than
they had bargained for, and someone they needed to kill
to save face. They rose as a unit, barely avoiding the crashing table. Now, with their companion flat on his back and
groaning, there were four, blades drawn.
“Hey now,”Raphael said, saluting them with his goblet, draining it in a single gulp, and tossing it over his
shoulder. He heard a short laugh and knew that the
Lasombra had caught it and placed it on the table. Raphael
stood, watching the wavering, drunken group before him
with interest.
“It seems,” he said finally, “that your friend doesn’t
walk as well as he talks. And these chairs,”Raphael kicked
one of the other chairs for emphasis, “well, they certainly
look balanced, but.. .”
Two of the mercenaries lunged. For all their drunken
appearance, they moved quickly and in unison. They had
fought together before, many times, and they fully expected their blades to bisect Raphael’s center and leave
him in much the same position as their fallen comrade,
only more permanently.
Raphael leaped. The blades passed beneath him as
he seemed almost to hover at the top of his jump, bringing his legs up in the air. Then he was coming down, as
the blades shot back, their shocked owners still not certain what had happened. Raphael caught the edge of the
toppled table with his boots and pistoned his legs downward. It flew up, legs beneath it once again, and Raphael
flipped back, landing a few feet away, beside the table
where his goblet had been left. He glanced down and saw
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with a smile that his new friend had refilled it from a flask
in the center of the table.
The mercenaries were staring at him, blades at their
sides, hesitating between anger, confusion and terror.
The first of them was finally getting to his feet, looking groggily about the room, belligerent as a charging bull.
It was then that a door in the back of the tavern slammed
open. Gradin came barreling in, wide-eyed and growling.
“What in all the hells is going on out here?”he bellowed. “Can’t a man have the peace and quiet his gold
can buy? Eh?”
“There is a problem,”Raphael called out with a laugh.
“The furniture keeps leaping on people, and the beer seems
unsatisfied to linger in the glasses.”
Gradin stared at his partner as he might have stared
at some large and very odd bug. He stalked from the back
to the center of the room, banging chairs and tables aside,
jostling the few customers not quick enough to move out
of his way. There were flecks of fresh blood on his lips,
and his collar, and his wild hair shot out to the sides of his
head and face at crazy angles. He resembled a wild animal
more than a man at that moment, and everyone in the
room with the exception of Raphael himself, and the
smooth, dark-haired vampire seated behind him, had begun to back away.
“I was hungry,” Gradin rasped. “I was.. . feeding.”
“And a fine, messy job you’ve made of it,” Raphael
laughed, noting the blood stains on Gradin’s cloak. “Still,
you seem not much merrier for a fine repast that-I might
add-I did not share.”
Gradin spat.
The first mercenary spun, hearing the approaching
footsteps, and he lunged for Gradin as he had for Raphael,
the rap of floorboards on his skull having done his sense
of strategic action no good whatsoever. Gradin did not
sidestep. He didn’t move at all. He stood, watching the
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maniacal figures rushing at him across the room, and he
reached up absently, brushing at the droplets of blood.
It took only a moment. The huge, drunken merce.
nary slammed into Gradin’s smaller, stooped form. There
was a sickening cmnch as the two met, and then, oddly,
the soldier continued on. He was running in the air, several feet off of the floor, and Gradin was stalking straight
toward Raphael, as if nothing had happened.
Raphael, unruffled, motioned to the bartender, and
grudgingly, the man produced another goblet, bringing it
warily around the bar and holding it out to Raphael, who
winked, took the goblet, and passed it to Gradin who
drained it in a gulp.
Moments later, the tavern erupted in cheers. The
mercenaries, those remaining on their feet, stumbled to
the back, dragged their bruised and bleeding companion
to his feet and out the door, muttering under their breath
about demons and threatening to tell some unknown
power of what had befallen them. They were washed from
the room on gales of laughter, and Raphael, sensing his
moment, turned and extended a hand to the Lasombra at
the table.
‘‘I am Raphael,” he said with a smile, “and my hairy
friend is Gradin. May we join you?”
The young-seeming Cainite glanced up with a grin
and motioned to the chairs to either side of him. “It would
be my pleasure,” he said. “I am Francesco de Valente, and
I must say,” he added, “that this was the finest entertainment I’ve had since leaving Rome.”
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Chapter Eleven
The three shared bloodwine, swapped stories, and
watched as the patrons who had witnessed Raphael and
Gradin’s antics came, went, and were replaced by others.
At some point, Francesco rose, stepped to the bar for a
few hasty words with the bartender, who continued to
watch their table warily. There was some shuffling, and
the bartender eventually made yet another trip back behind the bar for instructions. In the end, the three were
escorted to a private room in the building’s upper floor,
where they could converse more easily and freely.
“It is a long way from Rome,” Gradin said as they
seated themselves. ”There must be many stories you could
tell of your journey.”
“There are always stories,” Francesco replied with a
quick smile. “Would you rather hear the famous ones, the
ones that all travelers tell of places they claim to have
seen, or would you hear the bleak reality?It is not such an
interesting road, most of the time. The dangers are overrated, the cities laid waste by the Crusade and the Bulgars
are only now on the mend. I’ve heard of caravans overloaded with the undead adding to the mess in Thrace. It
is a poor time to travel, if you are of good spirits and inclined to fun.”
“There has been little time for fun,”Raphael interjected. “Too much is at stake now. Too many have left,
fallen, or been destroyed, and those who remain are less
focused. Rather,” he added thoughtfully, “they are too selffocused. What was once a dream has become a scattered
cluster of nightmares. As much as one might enjoy entertainment, it will be many nights before anything honestly
resembling it surfaces.”
“You are a dour one,” Francesco intoned with a wry
grin. “Still, while it may have been a show, and a particularly good one, I saw your expression as you played with
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those downstairs. Existence is never without its amusements, and you strike me as a pair rich in both experience
and amusement. Tell me I am wrong.”
Gradin actually chuckled, and Raphael turned to him
in amazement, then laughed. “Guilty,”he replied, sipping
his drink. “But that changes little. What brings one so far
from Rome?There is little that goes in or out of that city
that has no importance. What can you tell us?”
“I know little of what is happening in Rome,”
Francesco replied. “I have been on my own for a very long
time. I have been sent to check in with one of my own,
but I am told I have come to the city too late.” He drained
his glass, then he met Raphael’s gaze. “I was to have met
with the Lady Isadora.”
All humor left Raphael’s face, and Gradin slowly lowered his goblet to the table, his brow furrowed.
“You know, then?”Raphael asked softly.
“That she is destroyed?”Francesco asked. “Yes, I know.
I have known for some time, though the reports had her
angry, run away from the bishop, or secreted in the camps
and plotting to overthrow the city. I have spoken with
several who witnessed the scene at the Venetian heretic’s
party. I know that she is no longer with us, and I know
that-despite the things I have heard that lead me to despise him-Bishop Alfonzo was devastated by the loss.”
Francescohesitated, then continued. “What I do not
know is who, and why. I have no idea what enemies the
bishop may have earned after the city fell, or what powers he may have aligned himself with. I have been to the
camps near and they are rife with odd rumors. Since they
make no sense to me, I have come to see what I can find
on my own.”
“And what is it that you have found?”Gradin inquired, reaching for his goblet once more and relaxing
slightly.
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“I have found,” Francesco chuckled, “that the inns
and taverns of Constantinople are filled with some very
interesting characters. I have found that rumors fly faster
than eagles when powered by wine, and I have found
that no one seems to have any idea why Isadora is dead,
or who might have killed her. Not even Alfonzo, as I
have spoken with one of his servants this very night,
and learned nothing.”
“It might be,” Raphael said guardedly, “that we have
some information you would find interesting. Of course,”
he winked at the Roman across the table from him, “information demands its own. Nothing is ever free.”
Francesco regarded him skeptically. “You know who
felled Isadora?”he asked pointedly. “That is, of course,
the only information I am currently seeking.”
“I don’t know a name,” Raphael admitted, “but I have
information that could lead to one. You aren’t the only
one who has had a conversation with Alfonzo’s minions.
Those who we spoke with, however, were a little closer to
the top.”
Francesco waited, then, seeing that he would have to
offer something first, leaned in to the table conspiratorially. “Well, I did hear a few things on the road,” he
admitted. “One thing in particular I believe you might
find interesting. There is one who is headed back to the
camps-or already in the camps-that could well be a factor in the future of the city.”
Gradin and Raphael shared a quick glance, then returned their attention to their companion.
‘Who might that be?” Raphael asked slowly. “Caine
himself? I have heard those rumors too many times already.
“Not Caine,” Francesco admitted, “but I saw Malachite myself, and if he is not in the camps now, he will
be there very soon. He believes, still, that he can find
the Dracon, drag him back to Constantinople and re-
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vive the dream. He speaks as a madman, but for all of
that-others listen.”
“And he is in the camps?” Gradin growled. “You
know this?”
“I caught word that he was coming when I was there,
and saw him on the road between Adrianople and here. If
there has been time for me to reach the city at my leisurely pace, I am certain that same time was sufficient for
his arrival in Hadrian’s city.”
Raphael nodded. “If he intended a week ago to be
there, he is there. That is indeed news. I had heard, of
course, that he was returning, but then, I have also heard
that he found the Dracon-that
he was headed to
France-and that he had been destroyed. My sources said
he had headed into Anatolia. If he his now in Thrace,
then what does that mean? Why not return here, to the
city where some would make him prince?”
“He had not found the Dracon when I spoke with him,”
Francesco replied. “Unlesshe found him on the road to the
camp, he is still alone, but looking to gather strength.”
“Towhat end?”Gradin asked, leaning forward. “Without the Dracon, he cannot succeed in his quest. Will he
take these followers with him on the search?”
“That I do not know,” the Roman shook his head. ‘‘I
know only what I saw, and the few words I heard in passing. He is unpredictable, and I had a mission of my own to
pursue. I didn’t ask questions.”
Raphael thought about this for a few minutes, then,
nodding slightly, he leaned forward again. “Haveyou heard
of the Chosen of Calomena?”he asked quietly.
Francesco watched Raphael’s face carefully, apparently saw what he was looking for, and nodded.
“Of course. They were broken when their leader,
Stanislav,was destroyed. Killers of their own kind. Worse
heretics than our fair bishop. Why do you ask?”
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“Perhapsnot destroyed,” Gradin cut in. “Perhapsvery
active, as a matter of fact. We have heard that those who
killed Isadora were just such followers of the dark queen.”
Francesco shook his head. “To what purpose would
this killing be directed, then?” he asked. “They have no
argument with Isadora, or Rome, other than the obvious
desire to see us all cut down, burned, and destroyed. W h y
go to such elaborate lengths for one death?”
“The bishop has a long history with the Chosen,”
Raphael replied. “He lost two childer to them prior to
the fall of Constantinople. He played a hand in destroying their leader. While it makes little sense that such a
fanatical group would begin to target their victims with
precision and planning, in this case there might be an
exception. If the Chosen still exist, and they are aware
of what the bishop has done to thwart their efforts, they
might send a message.”
“The bishop’s trained dogs are in the streets,”Gradin
growled, “hunting as we speak for just the ones we speak
of. They have been working their way out from the center
of the Latin Quarter, and have found nothing. No sign of
Calomena, or her followers, either mortal or Cainite.”
“It could be a ruse,” Francesco said slowly. “If Alfonzo
has a known quarrel with the Chosen, who might gain by
angering him and sending his forces in different directions
by such a distraction?Surely, if they were holed up in this
Caine-forsaken slum, these followers of Alfonzo would
have flushed them out?Unless we are talking a group only
one or two strong, where would you hide them? Fanatics
are not the silent type, and they would hardly be confining their work to the bishop’s house alone. Have there
been other deaths attributed to them?”
Raphael shook his head. “I have heard nothing else
about them, but Constantinople is hardly the city it was.
There could be room for them to hide in the ruined
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,
homes of Greeks. And you know the stories that circulate in the camps.”
“In any case,” Francesco said at last, draining his goblet and rising slowly, “there is little more to be gained this
night. The dawn is not far off, and I have a ways to travel
before I reach safety.”
Raphael and Gradin rose as well, and Raphael extended his hand once again. “It has been a pleasure,” he
said with a grin. “I don’t get to say that often enough, so I
thank you.”
“The pleasure was mine,” Francesco laughed. “I had
expected a night with no more interest than those of the
past few, questioning idiots who insist on being plied with
beer and then confide the wondrous secret that they can
find me a good time, if I only have a few more drinks’
worth of gold and the time. Gathering information in this
city can be like picking one’s teeth. Bits and pieces fly all
around, if you are rough, but only the careful pluck will
leave the morsel stuck on the pick.”
Gradin laughed again, clapped the Roman on his back
soundly, and turned toward the door. “We’d better be off
ourselves,” he said. “And I don’t think we’ll be leaving
the Quarter this night.”
“TOO
late,” Raphael agreed. “We’ll have to visit your
friend the bartender one final time and arrange for quarters. I swear, if he goes into that back room one more time
and is ordered to serve us, he may snap and go for your
throat with a carving knife.”
“It would be a shame,”Gradin laughed. “I am fond of
that one. I would hate to have to kill him.”
The three exited the room, Francescoturning toward
the street, and the others toward the bar, where their friend
the bartender waited, scowling at their approach. Before
they could reach him, he turned, and entered the back
room with a resigned slump to his shoulders.
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Gradin laughed. “It seems,” he said softly, “our friend
will last yet another night.”
Beyond the walls of the tavern, the last of the night
was scurrying into corners and crevasses, pulling everything that did not belong to the daylight in behind it.
Windows were closed, as others began to open. Doors
were barred, and with a thud of finality, the tavern door
joined the others. Gradin and Raphael walked to the
stairway in the back of the tavern and started down, a
heavy key ring dangling a single iron key in Raphael’s
hand. He moved slowly, the sluggishness of dawn in his
limbs, but there was still time. The bartender watched
them go toward their room, his eyes narrow and dark.
He polished the same goblet for so long that he noticed,
suddenly, that his fingers had grown hot from the action, and the knuckles of the hand holding the stem of
the goblet had gone white. With a growl, he turned, and
exited through the doorway to the back of the tavern a
final time, cursing under his breath.
“You’ll get yours,” he said softly. “One of these days,
you hairy bastard.”
His words were too soft to echo, but they lingered in
the air as he passed into the kitchen and out into the predawn haze, shrugging the cares of tavern and night off
with a heavy yawn.
In the distance, a cock crowed, and the bartender
rubbed his eyes blearily. When the blow fell, he didn’t
even see it coming, and there was no struggle as he was
dragged quietly back through the doorway and into the
tavern, or as the door was closed with quiet finality.
Unconscious, he began to snore.
*
*
*
Lucita and Anatole stood, once again, at her balcony.
The darkness was passing swiftly, and there was little left
to the night, but they waited. Anatole had many followers, not all of them bound by the darkness, and the two
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awaited word. Stories had come to them the night before,
both from the camps, and from the Latin Quarter, and
what they learned this night might well decide the fate of
a city.
There were too many forces on the move. In the
camps, all were restless. Those gatheredthere met in public more frequently, crossing boundaries of clan and belief,
listening intently to the stories of inspiration and madness. There was an energy crackling through those dark
hovels and dingy streets that had little to do with either
Adrianople or Constantinople. It was the sort of energy
waiting to be directed at something, and Lucita knew that
it must be directed away from Byzantium. Things were
too delicately balanced, as it was.
And someone was out there. That much she had
sensed herself, someone old and powerful. Watching and
waiting. Dozens of names entered her mind and exited as
swiftly. In the end, it did not matter. If a Lasombra was to
be prince, and if she were going to ensure that the Bishop
Alfonzo would be that prince, she would have to act swiftly
and decisively.
O n the street below, a shadow melted from an alley
and stopped, just for a moment, to glance up at them.
Anatole nodded, and the man scaled the wall without firther hesitation and slid over the edge of the balcony.
Lucita slid a sidelong glance at Anatole, raising an
eyebrow. “Must it always be so dramatic?”she asked. “We
do have a doorway and stairs.”
Anatole remained silent, and his agent stood quietly
to one side, awaiting instruction.
“What have you found?”Anatole asked.
“I spotted two men known in the camps spending
their night in the Latin Quarter, in the tavern on Lambas
Place. They met there with Francesco de Valente, from
Rome, and they did not come out. The Roman left. He is
Lasombra, but not of great importance.”
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“And the others?”Lucita cut in. ‘‘They were there
as well?”
“No.” The answer was quick and certain. “But just as
I was turning to leave, two mortals, touched by the blood,
but not turned, appeared at the tavern. They took the
bartender, and they slipped inside. They were robed, and
it was too dark to tell who they might be. I felt it best to
make for here before sunrise, to bring you the news.”
Lucita frowned. Francesco was unexpected. She had
no idea what his purpose might be in this, unless he were
checking up on Isadora, in which case he was in for a nasty
shock. She had no time or concentration to spare him.
“These others,” she asked quickly, “the mortals. You
are sure they went inside?”
“I watched until the door was closed behind them,”
the man said, “then ran here.” His eyes were deep gray,
and though he also was hooded, Lucita caught sharp, aquiline features and a pointed chin.
“I wonder what they are after?”Lucita asked out loud,
nodding her respect to Anatole’s men for their effort. They
might not have returned from such an undertaking.
“Or who,” Anatole added. “If I am not mistaken,
the tavern of which he speaks is under Gabriella’sinfluence. The two from the camps were likely her men. I
would suspect Alfonzo had sent these, except that I am
certain he is too arrogant to believe a tavern in his own
quarter is not truly under his own influence. To send
mercenaries in secret to his own establishment would
seem a sign of weakness.”
“Then who?” Lucita prodded. “If not Alfonzo and
not Gabriella, then who else is involved, and why? The
Chosen? Do you think those two entering the bar were
more assassins?”
“I think,” Anatole replied, turning to stare out at the
cresting dawn, “that it is too late for us to find that out
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this night. I have some who can move by day, and you
have your own men.”
“Fine,”Lucita said, turning quickly from the window.
“But I’m not sending them to skulk in the shadows. I’m
sending them into that tavern, and I’m going to find out
who those two were, whatever the cost. We can’t operate
safely without knowing our allies-and our enemies.”
“Assume that you have no allies, and you will always
operate most safely,”Anatole said, appearing at her shoulder as she left the room. “Whoever has sent them, we
should not take these two lightly.”
“I don’t intend to take them lightly,”Lucita snapped.
“1 intend to take them fully, completely, and to have them
stripped and chained before me when I rise.”
Anatole grew silent. It was difficult to read the
monk, sometimesimpossible. This was one of those times.
They went below, each to summon their own people and
get them on the move. Beyond the walls and the balcony where they’d stood, dawn was painting the skyline
in reds and deep orange fingers they would never see.
The other city, the Constantinople of the daylight, was
coming to life.
*
*
*
Within the hour, four dark shapes had slipped out
the ground floor of Lucita’s stronghold. Two wore the
simple ashen robes of those who followed Anatole. One
was a dark, sultry woman with deeg brown eyes and swarthy skin named Viola. She moved easily, despite the robes,
which concealed more than just a slender, powerful form.
A blade, as long and slender as its owner, hung at her side,
fully concealed.
With her went a tall, broad man, Alejandro, who
sported a shock of wild black hair that was flecked and
streaked with gray, his arms like the gnarled roots of an
ancient tree. His eyes were wide and deep, and they shifted
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hue oddly when the light hit just right. They mirrored the
gray of his hair.
At their side were two young men of Lucita’s, Jacob
and Esau. These two wore dark tunics, dark boots, and
their weapons hung openly at their sides. They were mercenaries, but hardly fools. They both had dark, intelligent
eyes, Latin features, and moved in such close unison that
they might have been twins, like Arturo and Leonid,
though they were not. Long days and nights, hard fights,
and many years had blended them into the single unit
that Lucita valued. They were also more than proficient
with their weapons. Most ofher followersdoubled as teachers in one manner or another.
The four slipped down the street and into the daylight madness that filled the Latin Quarter. Booths had
opened on all the comers, most no more than carts with a
tarp drawn back and wheels broken so they could never
move again. Others peeked from beneath the porticoes
and tattered awnings of broken buildings or dark alleys.
The space between was given over to traders checking
others’ wares, stevedores and sailors moving goods to and
from the ports, and a wild assortment of displaced Greeks,
erstwhile crusaders and other ne’er-do-wells. Every corner was a business, and every business had the same
purpose, to part one from whatever money he or she carried by all means possible. None bothered with these four.
As they passed, the daylight denizens of the quarter
scampered out of their way, slipping into the shadows to
watch them pass. Whispered words trailed them and disappeared into many ears, funneling back to those who
traded in information, or rumor. Lucita’s men were known
by reputation, but had seldom ventured into the quarter.
The others were not known at all, but the huge, darkhaired madman drew a lot of attention. The story of their
passing traveled almost as quickly as they themselves.
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When they turned down the alley behind the tavern
and moved to the door, there were no less than three sets
of eyes watching their every move, but this was as expected.
Lucita was not after stealth; she wanted results. Their orders were clear, and none of the four paid any mind to
those around them. If they found what they hoped to, then
it would matter little who saw, or who that information
was passed to.
Alejandro knocked on the tavern door roughly, and
they waited. During daylight, the place was a tomb, closed
and locked. There would have to be those whose job it
was to clean, however, to wash and sweep away the refuse
of one night to make way for that of the next. No place of
business could ever afford to be truly closed for long.
Nothing happened, so the big man knocked again,
louder this time, adding a rough kick of his boot to the
solid wood in emphasis. They had been ordered to try every normal means of entrance first, but his patience was
short, and they couldn’t afford to be in the street for too
long. The rumors that flowed so swiftly away from them
would return, and they would bring others. Alfonzo’s men,
possibly others. There was no way to know for certain that
those who’d entered earlier were alone, and if they were
not, then there could be others watching even as they
knocked and waited patiently to be attacked.
When there was no answer to this second knock,
Alejandro turned to his companions, shrugged, and drew
back a foot or so from the door. With a huge explosion
of power, he drove his boot into the wood, directly beneath the latch. There was a shuddering crash, the sound
of rending metal and splintering wood, and the latch gave
way. The door swung open with a crash, and the four
were inside.
Jacob and Esau slipped immediately to the left of
the door as they entered, fanning out into the tavern’s
main floor. Alejandro followed the momentum of his
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crashing boot straight in. Viola, watching the street behind for a fleeting moment, paused to draw the door
closed behind them.
There was no light on the inside. There were no windows in the main room, and there was no light coming
from the kitchen beyond the bar, or the hallway to the
back. It was as silent as a tomb, and they moved in quickly,
scanning the shadows.
Viola nodded to Alejandro to follow, moved toward
the kitchen. He stepped forward quickly to hold aside the
curtained door, and she was through in a blur of motion,
wrapping herself around the wall and slipping to the right.
There was no need. Once inside, she smelled an all-too
familiar scent, and she stopped. Her eyes had grown quickly
accustomed to the darkness, but she didn’t trust the silence. The scent of death was too fresh. Nothing moved.
She reached into her robe, pulled out a flint and quickly
located a candle. The flame danced up, stretching long
fingers of yellow light through the dingy room. Alejandro
entered behind her.
Sprawled on the floor was the body of the bartender.
His throat had been tom from his body, and a very small
pool of blood had leaked to the floor. He was pale, drained,
and very, very dead. Not far beyond him, wafting in the
slight breeze from the curtain over the door, the dust of a
Cainite swirled away from a small fragment of bone. An
empty cloak lay on the floor surrounding this, and an ornate dagger had fallen useless to the floor. Apparently,
the kitchen had not fallen without a fight.
Viola knelt and grasped the dagger by its hilt, glancing at it in curiosity, but already focusing on the tavern
beyond the curtained door. Whoever had been here, they
were gone now.
A sudden, sharp cry from the back of the building
launched her into motion. Alejandro held the door a last
second, allowing her to slip through, and he was leaping
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the bar, diving toward the back, where the clash of blades
and a loud curse drew them onward.
The shadows were cut ever so slightly by the slivers
of light escaping from the kitchen, where the candle had
been lit. Jacob and Esau flanked the entrance to the rear
hallway, and they were holding someone, or something,
at bay. Deep guttural curses sounded from beyond that
doorway, and the flash and clatter of steel was furious,
blades slashing and dipping like small lightning strikes.
“How many?”Viola asked, moving up cautiously on
the left, behind Jacob.
“There are two in the hall,” he grated through heaving breaths, “but there are others beyond.”
She nodded to herself as if something.had clicked
into place. “Let them out.”
Some sign must have passed between the two, because Jacob and Esau stepped back a full pace each,
allowing a short slip in their guard, and at that moment,
two others lurched from the hall. They stumbled, each
turning to face an opponent, obviously believing they’d
won ground. As they turned, Alejandro stepped from the
shadows in the center of the room.
For just a second, all light was blocked, and the fight
fell into darkness. In those seconds, he struck. Two massive fists pounded down, and before the two understood
what had happened, they were pummeled to the floor, trying vainly to swing blades up and back at the giant and
finding that those blades were suddenly pinned under
booted feet to either side. Viola paid no heed to any of
them. She was watching the hallway, and listening. There
was a sound, then another. Stealthy, but still somewhat
deeper and further away than she associated with threat.
Softly, she called into the shadows.
“We will take them,” she said. “Your rest is safe.”
She hoped they would believe she was associated with
the tavern, that what had happened had been controlled.
Lasornbra
She knew there were rooms beneath the tavern, little more
than dark pits where the sun was forever barred and the
doors sealed from within. How these two had managed to
breach such a wall was a question for a later hour. For the
moment, it was vital that they take them, and get out.
Others would come soon, might already be on the streets
and moving.
Nothing happened. No sound or answer from the
shadows below. They waited, then Viola spoke. “Bind them
quickly. We have very little time.”
Lucita’s men trussed the two quickly and efficiently,
and Alejandro swung one of them up and over his shoulder with no more effort than that of a father lifting his
child. Something clattered to the floor, and Viola bent
down to retrieve the small medallion fallen from the prisoner. O n the face of it, Dark Calomena glared into some
forgotten eternity. She slipped it into her cloak.
Jacob and Esau picked up their second prisoner, and,
with a quick glance into a street that was, for all they could
see, vacant, they moved off down the road quickly. The
woman carried her blade openly, as if daring any to bar
their path. There was no opposition, and they slipped out
of the Quarter with only the glances of merchants, stevedores and washerwomen to mark their passage. They found
the back entrance to Lucita’s own kitchens and lower levels without incident.
The streets were alive with the story.
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Chapter Twelve
When Lucita arose, she was greeted immediately by
three of her followers. There were prisoners, two of them.
Anatole was with them. There was a messenger, Matteo
once again, sent by the bishop, who was demanding to
know what had happened that day. The girl who spokeno more than fifteen, very pretty, and nervous as a
bird-looked ready to burst into tears from the stress.
Under Brexiano’s watch, Lucita’s time in the city had been
relatively quiet, marked only by receptions with some of
the Cainites circling around Constantinople’s empty
throne. Such an uproar-prisoners in the house!-was not
within the girl’s scope of experience.
Lucita brushed past her, telling her to go to Matteo
and ask his patience, that she would join them shortly.
Then, without hesitation, she made her way to the rooms
behind the kitchen, where stairs led to the basements below. The house was built on a slope and there were stables
below, with a means of exit at the rear, near the street.
The stalls had not housed livestock since years before
Constantinople’s fall, but they served well enough for a
makeshift dungeon.
It was there, in the third stall, that Lucita found
Anatole and his two followers. Viola had thrown back
her cloak, and stood off to one side, her eyes fixed on Lucita
as she entered with an expression caught somewhere between envy and desire. She was lovely, very much mortal,
and her blood flowed deliciously, pulsing at her throat.
Lucita shook her head and turned away from the woman.
It was no time to worry over her own needs, and this one
was Anatole’s,but still.. .
“Who are they?”Lucita asked, stepping to Anatole’s
side. At his feet, trussed like animals ready for the slaughter, two men lay in the dirt and filth. Their clothing had
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been tom away, and they shivered, naked and bound.
Lucita saw that each already bore the mark of Anatole’s
questions. Bruises had risen on their chests, at their ribs.
One breathed in heavy rasps, as if something were broken
and causing him pain.
‘‘I have learned little,” Anatole replied calmly, “but I
have not yet begun to apply any real pressure. The first
important thing was this.” He held up the medallion that
had been brought to him. It was identical to the one they’d
found on the rooftop. Calomena’s glare was as dark and
empty as ever.
“The Chosen?”she said softly, then turned to the two
at her feet. She reached out with one boot and lifted a
chin off the floor, studying the bruised face. The man glared
at her for a moment, then his features broke into a spasm
of fear and he turned his gaze away. She let him drop and
turned back to Anatole.
“These are fanatics?”
“My thoughts exactly,” the monk smiled enigmatically. “They had killed the bartender, a mortal and one of
Gabriella’s watchers, but that was largely due to surprise
and the daylight. Those sleeping below were putting up a
good fight of their own when our people arrived.”
“I know little of the Chosen,” Lucita said, lost in
thought and staring down at their captives once again,
“but I have heard they are nearly mad with their faith. It
is said that they kill mortals and Cainites alike without
fear, seeking only the redemption of Calomena. These two
do not look prepared to die.”
She lashed out then, kicking the closest prisoner hard
in the ribs and bringing out a choking cry.
“We have tried beating them,” Anatole observed,
though his smile belied any chiding she might have heard
in his tone. “We have threatened them with every physical abuse one can imagine, but they will say nothing. I t
seems they fear something, or someone, more than they
do our blows.”
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Lucita laughed then, kneeling beside the first captive and reaching down. She slid one long, sharp nail under
the man’s chin and raised his head from the floor so that
his flesh rested with the full weight of his head, pressing
the skin of his throat into that nail. She turned him easily, reaching down to grip his hair with her free hand. She
caught and held his gaze, and though he tried to shake his
head and look away, he was helpless. She drew her nail to
one side, then to the other, digging into his soft flesh and
smiling as a thin trickle of blood began to trickle down
her fingernail.
She held him by his hair, brought her finger to her
lips and licked it clean very slowly. “We have plenty of
time to discuss matters,” she said softly. She dug her nail
in deeper and filled the cup of it with his blood, bringing
it to her lips once more. “Our guest will tell us everything
we need to know, won’t you sweet?Isn’t it simply the sensible thing to do?”
She held the man’s gaze and he tried again to shake
his head and negate her words. Again, he failed. She
dropped his head contemptuously to the floor and turned
away. Anatole followed. He turned to the woman who
had brought the prisoners in. “Find out where they come
from, who they speak for, and why they chose Calomena
to cover their tracks. We will be in the parlor entertaining our guest.”
The woman nodded. There was a low moan from one
of the men on the floor, but it was ignored. Lucita and
Anatole left the room, mounted the steps to the kitchen,
and made ready to meet with Matteo.
“I wish I already knew what information I can offer,”
she said, softly enough that none could overhear. “I know
that we have the key to Alfonzo’s questions, but what is
the specific answer ?”
“I can make a guess,’’ Anatole replied, not meeting
her gaze. “I had a few moments to speak with the two
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below, and while they offered no information of any use,
they did speak. They both have a decided accent-venetian, I would say. They are also very well equipped and
trained for fanatics. I would rule o u t Calomena altogether,
and begin to wonder who in Venice might want to rile
Alfonzo, and at the same time harm Isadora.”
Lucita stopped at the head of the steps, thinking.
“Narses?”she said incredulously. “Why.. .” then she fell
silent. If it were known in Venice that Isadora was figuring prominently in Alfonzo’s affairs, it might be assumed,
as well, that the influence of Rome would be felt as well,
or that-at the least-there would be leaks from the city,
and that Alfonzo’s operations would be suspect. She
frowned. “His own sire?”
Anatole didn’t reply. His features were as stoic as
always, and he continued on down the hall, not waiting
for her to follow. Lucita caught up with him, but she said
nothing further. The monk could be infuriating when
he chose silence, more infuriating still if he chose to start
babbling about things that might or might not be relevant. Better he walk in silence and consider the
implications of his words.
While she’d never have considered it herself, now
that the thought had been implanted in her mind, it
seemed obvious. Narses had always tried to keep his childer
on a short leash, not wanting any uprising or mutiny,
particularly in those who were far enough from Venice to
be problematic.
Alfonzo was strong. He was powerful, arrogant and
ambitious. Venice was a long way from Constantinople,
and there were any number of powers who might reach
out, dangling just the right morsel, and draw the bishop
under their sway. Narses was certainly right to worry,
though too late, as it turned out, to stop the inevitable.
Lucita smiled.
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They stepped into the parlor together, Anatole with
his long, wispy blonde hair flowing over his shoulders,
resting on his darker cowl, had his arms clasped and stood
to the side, remaining silent. I t was Lucita’s home, and it
was for Lucita to entertain visitors in whatever manner
she chose.
She stepped forward gracefully, extending a hand to
Matteo, who colored and nearly backed away at the sudden, almost intimate greeting.
“We meet again,”Lucita observed, smiling as the living man fought for control of his voice. She moved
deliberatelycloser, so that their clothing brushed. He could
see nothing hut her eyes, and seemed willing to stand, just
as he was, silent and trapped in those deep pools until she
set him free. She didn’t wait. too long. Better to let it be
slow, gradually drawing him in and leaving him with the
guilt and fear of betraying Alfonzo by wanting to be near
her. Lucita wasn’t certain yet what part this young man
would play, hut she felt it was important to draw him in a
bit more at every opportunity.
“I.. .” he gasped the words, then swallowed, unable
to continue immediately. He tried again. “I have been sent
with a message, milady.” The words poured from him when
they finally broke free of his tangled tongue. “The bishop
handed it to me, to deliver only to you.”
She waited, smiling. When he finally realized she
was waiting to he given the message, he tore the paper
from his tunic and presented it to her, hands shaking.
When she dropped her gaze from his to read the hold
script on the envelope, she heard the escape of his breath,
and realized he’d been holding it. His blood pulsed faster,
and her smile widened. While she read, she ever-so-slowly
traced the tip of her tongue back and forth across her
deep red lips. She heard his breathing stop again, and
almost laughed. She found that she was enjoying herself
very much.
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’
The note was short and to the point:
1 have reports of what happened last night. 1 know that
you took them, I want to know why. We will meet tonight.
Do not keep me waiting.
She almost smiled again. So predictable. Men of the
bishop’s type, whether living or dead, could be depended
upon to react in certain ways. She knew that she should
have sent word to Alfonzo herself to let him know of the
night’s adventure, but she’d seen more advantage in making him wait. Now, Alfonzo had put himself into the
position of wanting something she possessed, and letting
that desire flash to the surface. He was impatient, and he
was angry.
Turning back to Matteo, she said softly, “Your master
does not appear to be very pleased with me.”
“There has not been much to please him since
Isadora’s death,” Matteo replied. “He is driven. He talks
constantly of revenge, of finding thesexhosen-and of
destroying them. Even his new childe can’t hold his pleasure for long.”
“Katrina?“Lucita asked. “She is young, too few years
to give her enough wisdom. That may come in time, if she
lasts. Regardless, I have news for Alfonzo that may set his
mind at ease, or at least, change things. I am not ready,
though. I have more to learn before I come.”
“He will not be pleased,” Matteo said immediately.
“My orders were to not return without you, milady.”
“Then you shall stay,”she laughed. ‘‘I would not send
you back to face the bishop’s wrath alone. You shall stay,
as my guest, until I have the information I require. I will
make the visit well worth your master’s time and patience,
but I can’t afford for him to interfere at this point. I am
very close to answers that may be of importance to us all.”
Matthew stared at her. Emotions warred across his
features. He knew that his instructions had been to
come, and to bring her to the bishop immediately. To
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play games with his master’s words was a dangerous
thing, but there was nothing he could do to compel
her. She would go, or she would stay, and all he could
do was what he was bid. Somehow, as he stared into
her deep, beautiful eyes, he found that he cared little.
To do as she bid was reward enough.
Matteo shook his head. ‘‘I will wait,” he said at last,
“because you know I have no choice. Though it cost me
my life, I will wait, and I will accompany you when you
are ready to return.”
Lucita laughed. “So gallant,” she said. “We will not
be so long as that, Matteo, and my intention is not to
anger your master, but to bring him news that will ease his
mind. Whether or not he is angry with you for the delay,
he will forget thatanger in! the face of what we will have
to tell him.”
“Then it is true?” Matteo asked. “You have captured
them? The Chosen?”
“We have captives,” Lucita answered slowly, “but I
am not convinced that they truly care about Calomena.
There is something more complex behind this, and that is
why I wish to wait. If we take the captives to Alfonzo, and
he destroys them in a rage, we may never know the truth,
and those who are guilty mBy go unpunished. We may, in
fact, even further their purpose through our own actions.
That is not something I can abide.”
Matthew stared at her &gain.“Why?”he asked at last,
backing away a step. “Why do you care whether Alfonzo
destroys two who have cahsed him harm? Why do you
care if he knows the truth] I have heard of you, milady.
The Archbishop Narses wbuld not approve of your involvement, but this you kndw as well. So I ask you, though
I have no right,’’he lowere&his eyes, “to question you in
any way: Why would you h d p my master?”
“Because,”she said softly, reaching out to lay a cold
palm against his cheek, her fingers caressing his chin, “this
I
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city has wallowed in its own destruction for too long already. Because there are powers lined up from the Golden
Horn to Thrace, ready to step forward, claim her for their
own and plunge it back into chaos. I would neither rule
myself nor see the undead mimic the shameful dynastic
pantomime of both Greek and Latin emperors. Thus, I
have a choice to make.
‘‘I have to decide,” she said, releasing his chin and
feeling the heat of his skin where her palm had pressed
against him, sensing the speeding of his heart and the
shortness of his breath, “who I will support. I could, I
suppose, support Gabriella of Genoa. She is not a stupid
leader, and she is Lasombra. Her loyalty, however, is to
Genoa, and I am uncertain how she would react if I were
to approach her. She might distrust me. She might try to
destroy me.
‘‘I could wait for the Greek Nosferatu Malachite to
return, but what if he succeeds in his madness? What if
the Dracon returns, and they try to drag the dust of the
fallen buildings back into a mockery of what has been?
This has no appeal for me.
“Alfonzo is in a position of power. He is a half-step
from becoming a prince in this city, and I would be there
when this happens. I would be there to offer the counsel
of Madrid, and whatever wisdom I might possess. And
then, there is the matter of what I suspect we will find
when our captives break. They will break, you know. We
will know who they are, where they have come from, and
why. When I have learned this, if I am right, then I will
have something that Alfonzo needs even more than he
needs to be prince. I will have the key to his greatest enemy, and that is a barter point I have with no other.”
“But,”Matreo stammered, fighting for control of his
tongue against a suddenly very dry mouth, “we already
know who the prisoners are-where they come from. I
was told before I came here of the Chosen.. .”
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“I do not believe that the followers of Stanislav are
behind this,” Lucita said, turning away from him and walking to a window. She felt the weight of his gaze on her
back, the heat of his desire, both mortal and beyond. He
hung on her every word and movement.
“A leader in Alfonzo’s position,” she continued, tracing her finger along the framework of panes that made up
the window’s surface, and watching his reflection in the
glass, “has many enemies. There are obvious enemies, like
the Chosen, and there are those more subtle in their
machinations. There are levels to treachery, and bloodthirsty fanatics are at the very surface level. These prisoners
do not have the aspect of fanatics. They were sent to perform a particular act. They were sent to destroy two who
were in that tavern, and not followers of Alfonzo this time.
Though his influence is great, that place is not his. It be+
longs to Gabriella, and it was two of hers who were inside.
I know one by name, the other by reputation. Their presence in that tavern surely boded ill for Alfonzo in some
way, and it was not to harm him that they were targeted.
They survived, incidentally, and now our Genoese friend
will find herself in my debt as well.
“There is someone else. Someone with power, influence, and much cunning, who is behind both of these
attacks, and who stands to gain by causing a disruption in
both houses. Alfonzo and Gabriella have little in common, so we must seek to find another connection. A
reason. Who would gain by the deaths?”
Anatole stepped forward, breaking his silence.
“There is a difference,” he stated simply. “I do not
believe we can simply look to the leader of each house
and find a common enemy, but we can look to those who
were, and were to be victims, and things shift.”
“What do you mean?” Lucita asked, turning slowly.
“Both Alfonzo and Gabriella would have lost those close
to them. Where is this difference?”
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“Simply this,” Anatole said softly. “Gabriella would
have lost two of her most powerful allies in the city. Lieutenants. Soldiers. She would have had to search long and
hard for replacements, and maybe she could not have replaced them at all, though I’m not at all convinced the
two below would have succeeded in their mission, even
had we not intervened. I also know of the two in that
room, and I do not believe they would have gone into
eternity easily, or quietly.
“Alfonzo, on the other hand, lost Isadora. She was
his companion, a diversion, someone he shared with intimately. She was not essential to any operation of his,
nor was she a powerful ally. She was, in fact, a link to
Rome-a link that could have proven a liability, had it
been granted the opportunity to progress further. Alfonzo
would have been pulled between his own ties to Venice
and the necessity to assuage any bad blood his relationship with Isadora might have fostered, balancing him on
the tip of a blade that might easily swerve to sever one
or the other thread.
“So,”Anatole concluded, “we now have a different
situation to evaluate. Who would gain by removing
Isadora, and weakening Gabriella, without anyone the
wiser to his involvement in the situation?Who would gain
by getting Alfonzo angry, causing him to tighten his hold
on the Latin Quarter and on the city?”
Lucita was quiet for a moment, then spun to the window again. It was Matteo, who was still uncomfortable
speaking in their presence, who next broke the silence.
“Archbishop Narses?”he asked softly. “Could it be?“
Lucita turned back, and now she was smiling. Things
were beginning to snap into place like a child’s wooden
puzzle. The image was clear. Of course it was Narses. Who
else? Who would know the power of Alfonzo’s hatred of
the Chosen, sparked by the childer they had taken from
him before the city fell? Who would benefit most with
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Alfonzo as prince? She wondered suddenly how quickly
she could get a message to MonGada. He would not be
pleased, at first, and that was another fight she would have
to face, but suddenly it seemed an easier battle than it had
moments before.
She turned to Anatole. “GObelow. Assist them in
getting the information we need. We will leave within
the hour. The one I spoke to should have the loosest lips,
but he must be managed carefully. I know that your people
can be very-persuasive-but
these are skills that they
have learned from you, and I think we need all the speed
that is possible. We have to be the ones to bring this information to the bishop, and he is far from a stupid man.
We don’t want him to figure it out before we have the
chance to present the proof.”
Anatole nodded, a glitter in his eye that could have
been read many ways. Lucita ignored him, for the moment, and turned back to Matteo.
“Go to Alfonzo,”she told him, catching and holding
his gaze anew. “Tell him nothing of what you heard here,
only that we will be there shortly with the answers to his
questions, and more. Tell him that we do, indeed, have
the two prisoners, and that we will bring them as well.”
“But, I cannot lie to him,” Matteo had begun to
tremble, backing away, but could not look away.
“NOone has asked you to,” Lucita replied, keeping
her voice soft, following as he backed away from her, just
quickly enough that she drew nearer at each step. He
hadn’t taken the time to glance behind him, and was
brought up cold by the frame of the door. Lucita continued forward until she pressed tightly against him, holding
him to the wall. He was trembling violently, coated in a
sheen of slick sweat. His heart hammered furiously. “I have
only asked that you deliver a message, Matteo, exactly as
I offered it. Surely that is not a problem?”She leaned in so
that her lips-then the tips of smooth ivory fangs-
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brushed his earlobe. She allowed one small prick to the
softness of his skin and after waiting for it to bead, licked
the single drop of blood from him with a slow curl of her
tongue. She pulled back so that he was again fully trapped
in her gaze, but her body pinned his to the wall.
“I.. .” he gasped. Then, unable to speak, he nodded
suddenly, and so violently that the shudder the movement
brought to his tense form nearly caused him to smack his
forehead into her face. The near accident unnerved him
further, and if she had not been holding him to the wall,
he would have sunk to his knees in that moment.
Slowly, Lucita backed away and allowed him to
breathe. He did so, eyes closed, one finger lifting involuntarily to the place she’d pricked his earlobe. Lucita’shunger
was rising, and she knew that she had moved away none
too soon. He was delicious, and she could detect the faintest taste of something that could only be Alfonzo. She
waited, and when he finally opened his eyes, she spoke a
single word.
“Go,” she said.
Matteo turned and fled, not waiting for servants to
lead the way. Lucita watched until he was out of sight,
then stood until she heard the thud of the great front doors
closing. One of her girls stepped into the doorway to see if
she was in need, and Lucita moved.
She grabbed the girl’s arm, dragging her into the shadows beside the door with a quick jerk. Before a word could
be spoken she’d thrown the girl’s head back, watching the
cascade of aubym hair that slid off down her back, baring
the pure, white skin of her thtoat. Lucita leaned in and
bit deep, feeling the rich, red flow-drowning in it for a
moment, erasing the hunger that had risen. Moments later,
she stopped, pulling away hastily. The girl was pale, weak,
but alive. Lucita lowered her against the wall, dabbed at
the wound on the girl’s throat with her tongue to lick it
clean, then turned away.
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She passed no one in the hall, but she knew someone
would find the girl, tend to her, and remove her from the
parlor. Her head was clearer and she headed for the stairs,
leading down to where Anatole would be busy with the
prisoners. She cursed herself silently over the young man,
Matteo, and the momentary slip of control she’d allowed.
She would have to watch that, particularly with all that
would soon come with Alfonzo. It would not do to anger
the bishop right on the verge of a partnership that could
be valuable to them both.
A scream rose from below, and she suddenly smiled.
It would not be long.
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Chapter Thirteen
The attack had been loud and crude and that had
been enough to alert Raphael and Gradin. They could
not emerge from their rooms, but they were not going to
be easy to dislodge. The quarters beneath the tavern had
been constructed with just such a necessity in mind, and
they were well-made. There were any number of day-light
creatures, mortals and others, who might find a reason to
wake a sleeping Cainite, and it was always in the best interests of the tavern to protect those it served.
What Raphael could not understand, was what had
driven the attackers away. They couldn’t have gotten as
far as they did without keys, so the watcher and any mortal workers who had been left to guard the place were
out of the picture. Who had intervened?There was nothing to be done but to wait, and to wonder what would
come next.
All sound from above had ended soon after the
aborted attack. Eventually, there had been footsteps, the
sound of things moving and being dragged. These were
signs that someone had come to clean up the mess. These
would be Gabriella’smen. Someone must have gotten word
through. The tavern would open on schedule. There would
be a new bartender, a new watcher, and as far as the regulars were concerned, no other changes.
The wait was interminable. Though they rested,
Raphael and Gradin forced awareness. They concentrated,
listening and taking advantage of sharp senses and attention to every detail. There was nothing. No one came to
disturb them, and at last, they felt the sun dropping, the
release of the pressure that bound them in the stone-walled
sanctuary that might well have proven to be their tomb.
Rising, Gradin cursed and kicked at the door.
“What in the seven hells was that all about?”he grated.
“This place has always been safe. Always.”
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“Things are shifting, my friend, that much is certain.
Let’s get ourselves far away from this place, and see what
we can find. I, for one, will be spending the next run of
daylight beyond the city walls. Constantinople is beginning to lose its appeal to me.”
“You don’t suppose the Roman.. ..”Gradin said.
“NO,not that one,” Raphael answered. “He was honest enough, as far as it goes, and he is far from Rome. I
don’t see any advantage in his attacking us, even if he
knew who we served all along. And I don’t believe it was
Alfonzo, either. He is certain that he controls this placethere would be no need, as far as he can see, to attack his
own people.”
Gradin growled low in his throat. He yanked the bolts
free on the door and drew it open with a bang. Without a
word, he ducked out into the hall and ascended the stairs.
He had his blade in one hand, and he crept carefully up
along one wall. Raphael fell in one step behind him on
the opposite side.
When they reached the top of the stair, they paused,
then at a sign from Gradin, they sprang upward, spinning
one to each side, backs to the wall and weapons at the
ready, staring into the room.
At the bar, facing one another across the polished
wood surface, their faces in deep concentration, Ian and
Pasqual studied a chessboard that lay between them. Behind the bar, a tall, burly man bustled about, placing bottles
and glasses just so, cleaning up where things had been
tipped or spilled or broken. Pushing off from the wall with
a grunt, Gradin cursed again.
“Now you come,” he spat. “Now, when all is quiet
and there is nothing for you to do but to play chess, you
arrive to save us.”
Ian looked up, barely managing not to grin as he replied. “You didn’t really expect that we would burst in the
door in the middle of the day and rush to your aid, blazing
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.
in flames?There are certain restrictions to the help we
can provide.”
“You control plenty of those who walk by day,”
Raphael said, the amusement not far from his voice. “You
could have sent someone to help.”
“The truth is more simple,”Pasqual said, smiling and
moving his bishop in line with that of Ian’s, pinning it
effectively with the king trapped behind. “We did not
know about your predicament until after the damage had
been done. You don’t appear the worse for wear, in any
case. Sleep well?”
Gradin growled again, but Raphael burst into laughter. He was fond of the Frenchman, and of course, Pasqual
was right. Nothing could have been done without prior
knowledge of the attack.
“The important thing,” Raphael said, “is that we find
out who was behind it. And for that matter, who stopped
it. I must say, that was the easiest I’ve ever escaped such
an attack, and I don’t have any idea how.”
Ian turned back to the board, frowning at his pinned
bishop. He advanced a pawn, obviously trying to buy time
for something. Pasqual barely glanced at the board before
sending his knight into apparent danger from Ian’s queen.
“They didn’t leave much behind,” Pasqual said, as Ian
glared at the board, deep in thought. “They killed quickly,
and efficiently,but there is evidence that they themselves
were taken-and alive. There is blood in the kitchen, and
there were the two bodies that provided it, but there was
not much blood out here. There were signs of a struggle, a
few small blood stains here and there, but no indication
that anyone else was killed.
“Alfonzo?”Raphael asked?“You think he might have
taken them?”
“It seems not,” Pasqual answered, shaking his head.
“Our people report that the bishop’s household is in a
frenzy. He’s angry, but he won’t speak of just why. He has
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sent a messenger to Lucita and the monk Anatole, but
again, no word as to why.”
“She must have them!” Gradin cried. “HOWin the
seven hells did she know they would be here? Who were
they?”
“Easy, my friend,” Raphael cut in, placing a hand on
Gradin’s shoulder. “Let’snot jump to conclusions. If Lucita
took them, we owe her a debt, albeit a grudging one. Let’s
not waste the gift of our lives ranting and raving. We must
get to Gabriella with the news that we have, of Rome,
and of this, and then we can formulate a plan for Lucita.”
“I don’t trust the monk,” Gradin growled. “There are
already too many preachers over in the camps and prelates here in the quarter. I’m not certain that waiting to
deal with his and the Iberian woman is wise. What could
they be planning? And what, for that matter, would they
be doing here, helping us whether by choice or chance?
What would they gain?”
“And why,” Ian asked, sliding his queen in line with
the bishop that was pinned to free it, “would Alfonzo send
a messenger to the two of them? Does he know of this
attack, as well? What, if anything, connects those two?
Separately, they are not such a danger that we can’t face
them, but together? I would hate to think of that.”
“Thinking is not your strong point,” Raphael said,
grinning. “You must watch his knight.”
Ian glared for a moment a t Raphael, then turned his
attention back to the chess board, just in time to see
Pasqual slide his knight to the center of the board and
catch his king, and his queen, in a forked attack that would
end in the loss of the queen.
Gradin had stepped up to the bar and was eyeing the
board. He grunted again. Ian whirled on him.
“What?You know, too?You can see what I cannottell me, what do I do?“
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.
“Attack,” Gradin replied without further comment,
turning toward the door. ‘You spend your game worrying
over what he is thinking, and what is the third move beyond his last, and why. You must worry about your own
moves more, or you do nothing but play a game with time,
waiting to be slaughtered.”
Ian stared after Gradin, and Raphael performed a slow
bow on his way out, following his friend. “He’s right, you
know,” Raphael said. “You really do sit back and wait for
the kill.”
Ian was still cursing them as they hit the streets.
“Did you truly see an attack?”Raphael asked, as they
hit the streets and turned toward the gates of the city.
“Ofcourse not,” Gradin laughed very suddenly. ‘‘I just
like to see him pulled in three directions at once. Nothing could keep Pasqual from winning that game.”
Raphael nodded. That is what I thought, but then,”
he chuckled, ‘‘I have learned to trust your instincts, particularly where attacking is involved.”
The two made it to the docks without incident, where
they could hire a skiff across the Golden Horn and into
territory under friendlier, Genoese suzerainty.
*
*
*
It was a rare thing for Gabriella to be alone, but for
the time being she sat in solitude, in her room at
Hadrian’s Rest for Raphael and Gradin to report. They
were late, but that was nothing new. She’d heard of the
attack, and had sent in Ian and Pasqual, but she wanted
to hear straight from the two what had befallen them, so
she’d chosen to wait.
There were so many things to watch, so many things
she had to be aware of. She had been neglecting the camps.
They had been largely stagnant since Hugh de Clairvaux’s
destruction, the ravages of the Latins and Bulgars fighting
over Thrace only adding to their number and their dismay. Last year, her spies had told her of the departure from
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the region of Caesar Valerian, the powerful envoy of the
Parisian Grand Court who’d meddled in some of her af.
fairs after the Crusade. Andrew of Egypt was ferrying him
west, a good riddance that was. Ultimately, she’d thought
the camps might either become a small, dirty extension of
Adrianople and remain forever, or collapse into bloody
bickering and the pursuit of apocryphal legends.
Instead, her men reported that there were more and
more places where groups of former rival and enemies now
gathered. Greeks and Turks, lords and serfs now stood together sullenly, grudgingly making an effort to band more
tightly together. It was still a fragile union, but just such a
union had come very close to setting off to conquer Egypt
not two years ago. Something was drawing them together,
and she knew that she would have to make herself aware
of that thing, study it, and see where the advantages of
such knowledge might lie. It could be that they were just
growing tired of living like savages. Constantinople had
been a city of luxury, of magic and dreams. The powers
that had ruled there had faded and grown corrupt, but
they were great powers nonetheless, and even their shadows had been filled with a richness that a place like the
camps could never offer. Not even to fanatics.
But what could make them act as one? What could
bring Nosferatu crawling from their dark comers together
with Toreador tramps? Maybe, she thought, the question
isn’t answered by a what. Maybe it’s a who.
A scuffing noise on the stairs brought her attention
back to the present. She turned toward the door expecting to see her men enter any moment, instead there was a
tall, slender and cloaked man standing inside the room.
He had not been there an instant before, she knew, and
she braced for an attack.
Instead, he leaned against the wall with a quiet confidence. He shielded his eyes with the hood of his cloak,
but a gnarled, claw-like hand, was visible-held close to
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his side, the nails long and yellowed. The robe, it seemed,
concealed more than his face. It was meant to shield those
he met and spoke to from his appearance.
“Nosferatu,”Gabriella whispered.
He pulled back his hood, and she knew him-had
known him. She gasped and took a step back, but he only
stood, watching her and twisting his warped, caricature of
a face into a rictus that vaguely hinted of a smile.
“It’s been a long time, Gabriella,” he said softly.
Gathering her wits, she stepped forward again. “It has
indeed,Malachite. I had heard that you were.. . gone away.”
“I have traveled many miles since the fall,” he said,
nodding. ‘‘I have seen a great many things, but I have
been drawn back to this place, as I knew, eventually, I
would be.”
“And your quest?”she asked warily. ‘‘I do not see the
Dracon at your side.”
“I have not found him,” Malachite replied, not dropping his gaze, “but I hold steady in my belief. The Dream
must return. It was the focus, the central power of our
peoples. Without that focus, we are no better than the
mortals, plotting in shadows and fearing each sunrise as if
it will bring the final death. In Constantinople, our peoples
ruled. Here, we rule only shadows.”
“The emptiness becomes you,” she said disdainfully.
“You seek the dream of a puppet.”
He seemed to spread, becoming slightly unfocused
and expanding to glare down at her. His featurescontorted,
if possible, into a more ghastly grimace than the smile
he’d worn moments before.
“You mock things that you do not understand,” he
said at last, calming himself. “You seek to steal the truth
from my words by diverting them to a joke, but they are
no less true. Who rules in Constantinople?Who will draw
our people together and hold the peace? Who will pre-
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vent the next wave of Crusaders from razing the city?
Alfonzo?You?”
“Perhaps,” she said without hesitation. “There are
other powers than those that ruled in Constantinople.
But,” she said, as if thinking it over, “your dream is not
without merit, except for its one fundamental flaw. The
trinity of elders is gone. The Dracon is but one, and the
followers of the others will not necessarily gravitate to the
one who is left. More likely he would come back to his
city and be shredded, tom limb from limb and consumed
by his own children.”
Malachite did not reply immediately.He studied her,
and he waited, then he continued.
“I did not come back to rebuild the city,” he said at
last. “Not yet. I am here for other purposes, on other errands. I will not stand here and debate what once was, or
what could be with you. We do not agree, and it is unlikely that we will be any more in agreement when we
part. Still, I believe I can be of help to you.”
Gabriella laughed softly. “If you could be of help to
me,” she said, “why would you? What would you gain?
What would I lose?These are not times of generosity and
good will, so tell me, why would you help me, and what is
it you think 1 need your help in doing?”
“Alfonzo is only a few nights away from the power to
proclaim himself prince,” Malachite spat the words, as
though he’d sipped bad blood. “His corruption is spilling
from the cesspool of the Latin Quarter like a plague, infecting the city as he goes. He has no love for what was
beautiful in the old city. He has no patience for what was
important. With Narses behind him, he will spread his
wealth, draw in those who remain in the city and buy those
who are in doubt. You know this. You have been there,
and you have seen.” Malachite fell silent for a long moment, his head bowed, then he lifted it again suddenly,
his eyes blazing. ‘‘I would not see one such as Alfonzo rul-
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ing in Michael the Patriarch’s place. It is an abomination,
blasphemous and tainted. I will be honest, Gabriella, I
have no love for you or Genoa, but I would give the city
into the hands of Rome or Paris before I would surrender
it to one such as Alfonzo, with his decadent disregard for
anything but his own pleasure.”
Gabriella smiled. “Perhaps you should go to the city
instead of lurking here, near its gates, or in the camps,”
she suggested. “You could draw quite a crowd of supporters if you did. Maybe you could rebuild a comer of your
dream without the Dracun.”
‘‘I will not set foot within her walls,” he stated flatly.
“Not yet. I have a thing to do, a road to follow. I am heading back to the camps and from there to France, and I
believe a great number of others will leave with me. They
are ready to be out of this place.”
“To follow Caine?”Gabriella’s voice was laced with
sarcasm, but Malachite stood very still, as if he hadn’t heard
her at all.
‘‘I do not seek Caine,” he said at last. “If Caine is
fated to come among us, we will all meet him together.
For myself, I seek one that is real, who can bring us back
to something like what we have known. One who cares
for the city, for the structure and the order that was
Constantinople. What stands on the bones of the city is
a travesty, a ruined parody of itself. Those who walk the
streets have no notion of what is right, and they make
not the slightest pretense at civility among the clans or
their own families. There is nothing there, but that can
be changed.”
Gabriella stood silent, watching. She was thinking,
and the thoughts surprised her. She was wondering why
this one, so well-thought of by both Greeks and many
Latins among the undead, did not step forward and rebuild the dream himself. The Dracon hadn’t been seen
for centuries, and even if he was still extant and was some-
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how found, the odds were no better than even that he’d
return, whatever the pressure Malachite and his followers applied.
Malachite caught her thoughts with eerie precision.
“I have been given signs,” he said. “I don’t expect
everyone to understand. It is enough that I understand,
and that I act on the understanding. It will not be long
before this place breaks apart, and when it does, I will
be leaving.”
He hesitated for a moment, then continued, “You
could come with me.”
She laughed then, but not at him. She laughed at
his sincerity, at the ludicrous image of the expressions
her followers would present her with if she announced
such a departure. Turn her back on the city, on the past
and her sire, wander into the desert at the side of a deformed lunatic.
“I did not believe you would go,” Malachite said.
There was just the hint of amusement in his own voice,
and Gabriella fell silent again, then spoke.
“I mean no disrespect,” she said, controlling her
voice. “It is just that what you suggest is so far from my
nature. It was the last thing I expected you to say, knowing who I am.”
“It was a thing that needed saying,” he said. “Now
that it has been said, I will say this. You could go with me,
but I know that you will not. There are others who will
not. Most of those in the camps will leave with me,
whether or not we share a dream. This place has reached
the end of what it can offer. It is dying, and the only release is in the wind. We must move with it as we may.
That is my road. I understand that you, and many others,
will not follow.”
He stopped speaking for a moment, turning toward
the shadows. Gabriella thought he might turn and just
leave her standing alone, but at last he continued.
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“I do not wish to see the city left in the hands of
bandits, or fools,”he said at last. ‘‘I cannot go there myself
for long enough to make a difference. You can. You have
the support of Genoa, and contacts in the city.”
She stood silent, listening. Then she spoke. “You are
telling me nothing that I do not know, and offering me
nothing that is not already within my grasp.”
“Not so,”he said, stepping a little closer. “I have my
own connections. I am not without resources in the city,
and not all of those who answer to me will leave with me,
despite my wishes. I can help you.”
“How,”she asked sharply, “and to do what? What is
it you think I want?”
“You want to be Prince of Constantinople,” he said
simply, ‘(It is not your nature to stand by and watch one
such as Alfonzo lead.”
“You do not have a high opinion of the bishop,” she
commented. “He wields a great deal of influence in the
city. It would not be easy to bring him under control, and
it would be harder still to keep him there.”
“Everyone has their Achilles’ heel,” Malachite said,
and grinned. The expression fit so imperfectly on his features that Gabriella almost grimaced in distaste. “Alfonzo
has made his mistakes, and he has made many of them
quite openly. It is a challenge, I think. He is waiting to see
if you, or any other like you, will accept the gauntlet and
attack him.”
“And this is what you think I should do?”she asked.
“Not at all. I think you should do what the Lasombra
do best. You should let him draw just enough rope over
the edge of his own walls that he can hang himself in the
sunlight for all to see. Then, while the city returns to a
new level of turmoil, you should step in and set things
right. A direct attack would surely fail.”
Gabriella nodded.
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“There is the matter of the Roman girl,” Malachite
continued. Gabriella showed none of the surprise she felt
at his easy knowledge of the situation in the city. “NOW
there is the matter of this Katrina, and her ties to
Adrianople. Perhaps nothing will come of it, but that
could change. The right words in the right ears might
make a difference.
“Licinius is anxious for the camps to clear,” Malachite said. “It is my intention to clear them, but I could
make this seem a favor. If he were indebted to me, I believe he might be encouraged to use his influence in
Constantinople. Alfonzo is rash, arrogant. He flaunts himself in the face of others’ influence, stealing away in the
night with that which belongs to another.”
“Not exactly truth,” she said, fighting the smile.
“And this is a problem?”Malachi asked dryly. “My
point is simple. I am leaving, but I would leave things in
competent hands. If I can offer my influence to that end,
I will do so. I will not stay away forever. I will not claim
any love of the Lasombra, or of yourself. I will not even
promise that, should I return, I would support you. At this
particular point in time, however, it suits my need.”
“You would have made a formidable Lasombra,”she
replied, at last giving in to the laugh. “I am no more anxious to see Alfonzo in control of the city than you are. I’ve
only been biding my time, waiting for the proper moment
to make my intentions known. It wouldn’t do to move
too quickly and lose to superior numbers. Better to rearrange the odds first, then stand in the shadows and collect
your winnings.”
Malachite nodded. “In return, I ask only that you
spread the word among your people. Let it be known that
we are leaving Thrace, that the time to put the past behind us has come, and that l have been seen. Don’t tell
them we have spoken. Don’t hint that we are in collusion. Say only that you have seen me, from a distance,
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and that there is a gathering. I don’t expect many of your
own people will be interested in following, though they
would be welcome. I do believe, however, that they could
spread the word, and that it could speed the process of
my departure.”
Gabriella nodded. ‘‘I would like to see an end to this
place, as well. It is too difficult to watch both the camps
and the city. There are too many warring factions, most of
whom have no legitimate conflict, but only a desire to
destroy someone or something in payment for the destruction of their homes-their city. Adrianople itself has
conflicts in her future, and in the midst of such a battle,
this place would be laid to waste in any case. Better that
you-they-depart now, while there is a chance to escape and start again in some other place.”
“Then we are agreed,” Malachite said, turning away.
“I will speak to Licinius this very night. I don’t know what
his reaction will be. I can’t promise that the prince will
care about the girl being taken, but I will do what I can.
My advice to you is to concentrate on the dead oneIsadora. Contact Rome. Let them know what has
happened and mention Alfonzo’s name often.”
‘‘I have been considering this,” she replied. “It will
be as you say, and I will tell all that I see of your greatpilgrimage.”
Malachite stared at her. Then he smiled again, the
grimace sending a chill through her small frame. “That is
an apt name for it,” he said somberly. “A pilgrimage, indeed. A new beginning-a rebirth.”
He turned and walked out the door and up the steps.
Gabriella rushed after him, but by the time she was up the
short flight of stairs and out of the inn, he was gone. The
courtyard between the inn and the stables, the only place
to go at the top of the stairs was dark and empty. She cursed
the Nosferatu’s gift for vanishing.
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After a moment, she headed back down to await her
spies. She had a great deal to get done tonight.
*
*
*
In the shadows, a second yellowed set of eyes watched
Gabriella of Genoa head back into her rooms in the cellars of Hadrian’s Rest. Brother Torquato pressed himself
back behind the stable and tried to make sense of what he
had just heard. The traveling companion he’d known as
Adam was revealed as the very creature he’d been asked
to find. This was a strange business indeed.
He was a long way from his native Venice and though
his mission was to Constantinople, and several local taverns within the city, he’d stopped in the camps of
Adrianople to see the truth behind the wild tales there.
Adventure was at a premium in the wine cellars of Venice,
and Brother Torquato intended to return with a head full
of them to weave into tales for the late, quiet nights. Now
he found himself in aposition he’d not sought, with knowledge he shouldn’t have, and still he had a job to do. When
the Lasombra had departed, and the streets were silent
once more, Brother Torquato made his way to the wagons
he’d driven to the inn and slipped up into the driver’s
seat. He barely had enough time to make Constantinople
proper and there make contact with those that he’d been
sent to meet.
As he drove away, he wondered at what he’d heard,
but for the most part, he dismissed it. It was no real concern of his now. He had told “Adam” of his message for
this Malachite, so his boon for the Giovanni family was
complete. Now, he had only to unload and sell the wine
in his wagon, and to depart. He was expected back in
Venice next year, and the journey, with no help, was not
an easy one.
Turning down the road, he pulled his cloak up tightly
around his shoulders and lowered his head. Any seeing
him might have thought him mortal. Unless he smiled,
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he might even keep up that illusion. For a Nosferatu, he
was remarkably clean. Unblemished, in most of the normal expressions of that particular blood, he was often
able to wander among those of the daylight without attracting notice. Even others of the blood were not quick
to guess his heritage. It was a burden at times, but on the
road as he was now, it was a blessing. No one questioned
the simply ugly. It took a truly hideous countenance to
draw undue attention.
No one noticed the lone wagon slippinginto the night.
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Chapter Fourteen
Lucita and Anatole reached Alfonzo’s door within
the hour. They were expected, and a breathless Matteo
met them as they were ushered inside. Lucita was calm.
Matteo was on edge, as though he were walking a thin
rope above a mesh of razor sharp wire and afraid he’d
stumble and be sliced to ribbons.
“He is waiting,” Matteo said. “He is not happy to
be waiting.”
“He will be happy enough,”Anatole said calmly, “with
what we have to tell him.”
Lucita smiled at Matteo and reached out to run one
long nail down his cheek. He made a choking sound, tried
to pull back, failed, and then she was past him, already
moving down the hall toward the room where they’d met
with Alfonzo before. She heard Matteo’s hurried footsteps
as he spun and followed after: She also heard the pounding of the blood in his veins and knew she’d put him in a
predicament. Alfonzo would not fail to notice this, and
she wondered where such a thing would lead.
They found Alfonzo pacing. He moved from one end
of the long table to the other, hands clasped behind him.
As they entered, he whirled, and was suddenly at their
side, as if there had not been yard between them. As if
he’d stood there all along, calmly awaiting their arrival.
‘‘I sent for you many hours ago,” he said curtly. ‘‘I
expected you to answer.”
Anatole stirred, and Lucita reached out a hand to
settle him. She gazed evenly at the bishop. ‘‘I am not your
servant, Bishop. Surely you realize this.” Her voice was
soft, but it had an unmistakable edge. “When I receive an
invitation to meet, I always assume that the choice of
whether-and when-to accept is still mine.”
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Alfonzo started to draw himself up, then stopped.
Lucita wasn’t sure if he’d won an inner battle to contain
himself, or if the short glance he gave Anatole had convinced him. The anger faded.
“I control a great deal of this city,” he said at last.
“The Latin Quarter has long been mine. Your affairs are,
of course, your own, but when they intrude on my territory, I have an interest. You took prisoners from a tavern
last night, this much I know. There are rumors that these
prisoners have something to do with the Chosen and
Isadora’s death. I have been able to get scant little from
the ones you brought me-it seems Arturo and Leonid
could use lessons in subtlety. So, you can see why I might
be impatient for news?”
“That is why we have come,” Lucita assured him. ‘‘I
wanted only to have a complete story to tell, rather than
short pieces. I’m happy to report that Anatole and his
followers have mastered the subtlety your own have not.”
Alfonzo almost bristled at this, but seemed to realize
he’d set himself up for it, and let it pass.
“What did you find?”he asked at last. “Did you take
more of them?The Chosen?”
“We took two prisoners,”Lucita said. “We took them
from the tavern you mentioned, where they had been sent
to assassinate two who rested within. The two who were
to be targeted belong to Gabriella of Genoa, and as a passing note, you may want to reconsider how you watch that
particular tavern. It seems that the place is, and has been
for some time, a haven for her agents.”
This got Alfonzo’s attention. Lucita could see the
thoughts whirling: a quick flash of emotions flickered
across the bishop’s features, then was gone. He contemplated her words a moment longer before speaking.
“There are always some weaknesses,”he said at last.
“The owners of that establishment have paid their tributes. My men go there frequently, as they do to all other
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such places within my control, watching and questioning, collecting what is owed. It does not surprise me to
hear that Gabriella was unable to resist sinking her claws
into the quarter at some point.’’
He fell silent again, then continued. “Why would the
Chosen attack her people?If they are after me, what would
be the purpose in flushing out a potential enemy?”
“Think carefully,” Anatole said calmly. “When there
appears to be a conflict between two realities, one of your
assumptions must be false.”
Alfonzo stared at the monk, thinking.
“There is no doubt that they have done me a service,” he said. “I might have been years ferreting out
Gabriella’s people””
Anatole nodded and smiled. Lucita remained silent.
“But still,” Alfonzo went on, turning away and pacing again as he spoke, “they have certainly dealt me a
personal blow, here inside my own walls.”
“Have they?” Lucita asked. “Have they really?”
Alfonzo spun on her, ready to argue the point, but his
spin lost momentum. He watched her, and remained quiet.
“You have lost a companion,” she said. “You feel the
hurt and the insult personally, but your position in the
city has not been harmed by this, beyond the slight lapse
in your security that allowed the attack in the first place.
There are those,” she added softly, “who might believe
that a clean cut from Isadora, and Rome, actually strengthened your position.”
Alfonzo started at this. “What?”He said, “But who.. .”
Again, the silence. The possibilities whirled once
again, and Lucita decided that she’d kept this going long
enough. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that second, she caught a movement to her right, and tightened
her lips.
It was Matteo. He carried a tray, three goblets and a
flask, held in unsteady hands. He would not meet her gaze,
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but the skin of his neck was flushed, and he stumbled as
he grew nearer, nearly tripping.
Alfonzo snapped at him impatiently. “What is wrong
with you?Have you suddenly lost the ability to walk?”
Not trusting himself to speak, Matteo lowered his eyes
to the floor and presented the tray. Alfonzo started to dismiss him, then thought better of it and reached for a goblet,
already filled with the deep, rich, blood-spiked wine.
Anatole did not drink, but Lucita accepted a goblet graciously, stepping closer to Matteo as she did, letting him
feel her near to him. The tray shook, and she laughed
lightly, stepping back with her drink.
Alfonzo stared first at Lucita, then at Matteo. His
eyes darkened, and he clenched his goblet more tightly,
then he laughed. Very suddenly, very loudly, he laughed,
throwing his head back. “You are a fool,”he said to Matteo.
“You have no more control of yourself than a boy in a
candy store. Tell me, Matteo, does the lady please you?”
Matteo remained silent, trembling. Alfonzo advanced
on him slowly. ‘‘I have made promises to you,” he said
softly, moving first to the side, then behind the young man.
He was quick, so quick that his form flickered from one
spot to the next. There was no sense that he walked, but
more that he disappeared from one spot and reappeared
in the next. His voice seemed to come from all sides at
once, hypnotic and deep. Matteo shook like a leaf in a
strong wind, the tray and its contents rattling violently.
He held very still, biting his lip and wishing for the pain
to take him away from the moment. I t failed, though a
thin trickle of blood began to wind its way down his cheek.
He was aware of this, acutely aware of it, and the dangers
it presented.
Alfonzo was suddenly directly behind him, a hand
on his shoulder, lips very close to Matteo’s ear. The bishop’s
voice was like the wind, whispering and still strong enough
to brush everything within reach, rippling around the
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room. Alfonzo watched in amused silence. Lucita watched
as well, conflicting emotions warring within her. Then,
just as Alfonzo began to build his anger, one block upon
the next, and to tighten the grip of his hand on Matteo’s
shoulder, she spoke.
“The Chosen have nothing to do with Isadora’s
death,” she said very softly, so softly that only ears attuned
beyond the mortal would have been able to pick her words
from between Alfonzo’s own. “Isadora was not killed to
attack you, but to cut your ties with Rome. Gabriella’s
followers were attacked in the hope of weakening her influence in a time when the two of you could easily be
considered rivals for control of this city. Who would gain,
Alfonzo?Who would gain from such steps? Who would
gain if you became stronger?Who would be most satisfied
if you had no ties to Rome ?”
Alfonzo stopped moving. He stopped speaking. His
hand continued its tight grip on Matteo, who was rigid
with terror, knees weak and arms losing control of the
tray he held too tightly.
Alfonzo moved back.
“Narses,” he said softly. I t wasn’t a question, but a
revelation. Lucita saw the totality of the betrayal sweeping across his features. Matteo stood forgotten, and Alfonzo
dismissed him with a curt wave of one hand. The boy cut
and ran, the flask tilting, falling across the tray, but miraculously not dropping to the floor.
Alfonzo barely seemed aware the boy was gone.
Lucita pressed her advantage.
“Gabriella was taken in, as well,” she said. “Even
Anatole, who has had his own problems with the Chosen, was quick to believe they might be back. The question
now is not what has happened, or who has gained, but
what to do next. You know that your sire will deny this.
You know, as well, that he will expect you to question
nothing, and to continue as if you believe.”
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Alfonzo was thinking. Lucita could see that he was
considering her words, but at the same time, he was considering other things. Perhaps he was remembering other
times, other places when he’d placed blame, and ignored
the obvious. Manipulation was an old Lasombra game.
Intrigue was a given, without it there would be nothing
to exist for, but this was different. This was the wrong
end of intrigue, the false security of Alfonzo’s own power.
It was quite a different matter when one was the victim
of intrigue, particularly when the perpetrator was one
he had trusted.
‘‘I cannot allow this to go unanswered,” he said at
last. “The last time we spoke, Lucita, you offered your support. I know that your sire will not approve. No more than
Narses approved of Isadora. Should 1 accept your offer, is
it only to find a knife at my own throat when Monqada
discovers your deceit?”
Lucita smiled in answer. ‘‘There is no deceit,”she said.
“Already, I have sent word of what I have offered to
Madrid. You are right in assuming that Monqada has no
love of Venice. The Heresy had gained too much strength
already, and he would not support anyone in a position of
power who practiced the Red Pentecost. This is not,” she
added, “necessarily a problem. He has no hatred of you
personally, only of what your sire has stood for. If you are
cutting one tie, why not the other?Or are you waiting for
the Dark Father to knock at your door and lead you away
to a new world of darkness?”
“I should be a pawn of Madrid, then?” Alfonzo answered, pointedly ignoring her last question.
“Cooperation is not fealty,” she replied. “A prince
should not be a pawn of anyone, but neither can he rule
without allies or support. Narses offers you support at the
cost of intervention. I offer you reciprocity-support to
be earned and favors to be returned”
Alfonzo turned away.
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“There is the matter of Gabriella, as well,” Anatole
cut in. “Let us not forget that, though you now know of
the tavern and her machinations there, you do not know
the extent of what she might be planning. You also cannot afford to allow this to pass without a lesson, or she
will feel free to do the same again and again.”
“I do not need lessons in warfare, monk,” Alfonzo
growled. “That is what this has become. There are casualties, and there have been a few skirmishes. Let’s see how
Lady Gabriella enjoys a real battle.”
“Perhaps,”Lucita cut in, “you could start at the tavern? My own sources tell me that, though her two
lieutenants have departed, others remain, cleaning up the
mess and preparing to reopen. Perhaps there might be
something to be learned there, if you are discreet.”
Alfonzo appeared ready to argue this. It was obvious
that he was feeling the sting of Narses’ betrayal, and the
anger of being duped by Gabriella, even on such a small
scale. He wanted to attack directly, squash the threat beneath his boot and move on quickly. Lucita knew that
such tactics rarely won out.
‘‘I will be expected to send my people in,” he said
grudgingly. “I can instruct them to act as if all that I
know of is the attack. If they appear to be seeking information, and nothing more, concentrating on questions
about your people, how you invaded and made off with
the prisoners, I may be able to learn more than they are
expecting to divulge.”
“If you can take one of her people,” Lucita said calmly,
knowing this would be more to his liking, “that might not
be a bad idea. My report has two of her own in the tavern
now. If you are careful, you might be able to cut the one
out without immediately alerting the other. There would
be more to learn from one who is close to her counsel
than from the mortals who run the tavern.”
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Alfonzo nodded. ‘‘I will see what I can do. The twins
will have to go, but I won’t send them into the tavern
itself. They would be noticed, and those inside would grow
cautious. If I can lure one of the two out of the place, they
will take him and bring him to me.”
Lucita nodded. “I have my own connections,” she
said. “I am heading for the camps tonight. There are rumors that those who dwell there have grown restless at
last. They might pose a threat if they turned toward the
city. I intend to see that they do not. There are other places,
other new beginnings they can seek.” She smiled again.
“If you are to rule here,” she said softly, “then I will try to
see to it that the ascension to the throne is no more difficult than it needs to be.”
“I have heard things myself,” Alfonzo admitted.
“There is unrest in the camps. There are a lot of strange
beliefs in this world, and perhaps their focal point in this
world now lies directly against the walls of Adrianople.
There is no stability there. They could return here, but
most of them follow roads that would find little comfort
here. They could try to slip in through their rat tunnels
and blend with Adrianople, but they would be forced to
bow to Licinius if they chose that road, and I do not believe this to be likely.
“He might have brushed them from the wall of his
city long before now if he didn’t have problems of his
own. The crusaders and the Bulgars haven’t finished their
warring, I think. It is time for those who dwell there to
move on.”
Lucita nodded. Anatole had grown silent, but he
stepped forward now, and Lucita noted with alarm that
there was an uncharacteristic tension in his movements.
Before she could reach out to him, he spoke.
“You both speak very easily of the fates of others,”
he said. “You speak of roads to be walked, and I wonder,
do either of you walk any road that serves any but your-
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self?If there is to be a pilgrimage of those who have fled
this city, then there is more at stake than that they not
come back here. The question of where they end up, what
they believe, and who leads them to that belief is not
one to be ignored.”
Alfonzo didn’t speak, but his eyes darkened. Lucita
stepped forward.
“What difference would it make to you?” she asked,
her voice sharpening. “Do you see yourself leading them?
You showed no such compassion on our last visit to the
camps. In fact, you showed no interest in them at all.”
“There are other powers at work,” Anatole said, his
features placid once again, but his eyes belying the calm.
“There are things worse than a group of fanatics camping
at your doorstep. There are those,” he added, “who would
look at myself, and those who follow me, in much the
same manner.”
“You are growing soft,” Alfonzo said without inflection. “You see insult where none is intended, and take
personally things that have little or nothing to do with
you. I have heard that you are mad-I have never heard
that you were stupid. I do not believe you are stupid now.
So,”Alfonzo stared at Anatole with open distrust, “what
is it that you hope to gain, for whom, and by what manner? I see no obvious gain to you insulting me. I also see
no connection between yourself and those in the camps.
By your own instruction,” Alfonzo nearly smiled, “this
would seem to indicate that one of my assumptions is incorrect. Which is it monk? Do you harbor secrets that I
should know, or are you just raving and ready to froth at
the mouth at a moment’s notice?”
Anatole did not rise to the bait, though Alfonzo had
straightened and stepped back half a pace, watching
closely. There was a long silence. Lucita chose to wait,
watching them both, wondering just what Anatole
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thought he was doing, whether she’d miscalculated her
own trusts, and how Alfonzo would react.
Anatole spoke first.
“I have been accused of madness on many occasions,”
he said softly. “On as many occasions, my madness has
proven more than it appeared. I have been accused, as
well, of fanaticism. I prefer to think of it as strong belief.
Principle. I see more in the evacuation of the camps than
you seem to, and so, I have voiced this concern. Perhaps I
have been too long in the city myself.”
Alfonzo didn’t reply, but neither did he seem to be
angry. Lucita waited.
“You might not be so far off, at that,” he said at last.
“Constantinople, before the fall, held many powers. Most
of those have dispersed, or been destroyed, but not all. I
have contacts in the camps, but they can only report
what they can see and learn openly, without risking detection. If Gabriella can have such influence as you have
revealed to me so close to my own doorstep, then who
knows wh-r
what-might exert such influence in that
camp, or which direction that power might turn next.
You have counsel?”
The question was reluctant, but sincere. Anatole, still
calm, replied easily.
“I have no counsel for you, Alfonzo. You have counselors aplenty, and power of your own. It may be, however,
that I have counsel for those in the camps. It may be that
I can suggest roads they have yet to consider, or present
the truth behind those already chosen. I am not made for
long periods of inactivity, nor for the role of counselor to
the destiny of others. Perhaps, though I see many things, I
am only just now grasping my own situation.”
Alfonzo nodded. “Perhaps. You do not strike me as a
follower, for all your quiet ways and advice.”
Lucita was bewildered, but relieved that the situation had not grown more volatile. It was obvious that there
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was something in what she planned that Anatole did not
approve of, but she was not certain what, or why. He had
given no indication prior to this moment that there was a
problem, and she was angry that he would wait until they
were in the midst of such a crucial meeting to speak.
. “You are certainly under no constraint to remain,”
she said pointedly.
Anatole met her gaze evenly and without emotion.
He did not speak.
Lucita turned back to Alfonzo.
“There is little time,” she said. “If you are to catch
Gabriella at her games, you must act swiftly. She will
know that time is short, and I doubt she’ll leave any of
her people at the tavern longer than she must. Now is
the time to act.”
Alfonzo nodded. “I will send my people in, and the
two of you will take your own counsel on the camps.” He
stared at her for a moment longer, holding her gaze. “TWO
things,” he said before turning away. “This time, when
you have information for me, I do not expect to be kept
waiting for it. If we are to trust one another, then you
must give me reasons to offer that trust. If you hesitate
when I ask for information, I have to assume you have
other things on your mind, and that they may not all bode
well for me. I find myself a bit short on trust just now.
Don’t give me a reason to withdraw it.”
“The second thing?” Lucita asked, not committing
to an answer.
Alfonzo grew thoughtful, then smiled. “The second
is of little significance, in reality, but something that must
be addressed. Matteo has been with me a long time. He
runs my affairs during the daylight hours, and he knows
more than most of my affairs. I could not miss the longing
he feels for you-nor,” the bishop appraised her openly,
“can I blame him, in truth. I suspect, however, that he is
not entirely at fault in this, and that you have encouraged
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him. I have need of him, still, at least until another can be
found for his duties. I would not be pleased a t his embrace
at this time.”
Lucita returned Alfonzo’s smile. “Understood.”
Anatole was paying no attention to the two of them.
He stared off toward the doorway, and the night beyond.
She wondered what was happening behind those deep,
deep eyes, but it was not the time to ask.
“I will send someone to report when I have returned
from the camps,” she said, striding toward the door.
Anatole fell into step at her side as if nothing odd had
taken place, and inwardly, she shrugged. The two passed
from the large chamber, leaving Alfonzo staring at their
backs. They made their way down the long hall and out
into the darkness of the city silently, each lost in their
own thoughts.
*
*
*
At the tavern, deep inside the Latin Quarter, Brother
Torquato’s wagon had turned the last corner and pulled
up to the head of the alley that backed the building. He
glanced up and down the street, not completely comfortable with leaving the wagon unattended and in full view.
He saw no one, however, and finally he slipped from the
driver’s seat and into the alley, walking quickly to the back
door of the tavern and rapping sharply on the door, as
he’d been instructed.
He was certain it was the right place. There were symbols, not easily visible in the shadows, but clear enough to
any who sought them. They were etched lightly into the
stone beside the door. His instructions had been clear. He
was to deliver the wine, take any parcels or messages that
awaited delivery to Venice, and be on his way. No stopping to enjoy the local culture. No side trips, though his
sire Jacobohad requested that he keep his ears open. People
felt at ease around Torquato. He was quiet and unassuming, and he could be counted on to pay attention and to
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follow instructions. Of course, he was a long way from
Venice, and he had not made many such journeys. If Jacobo
himself had not insisted he do so, he would not have left
his cellars, or his city, at all.
Something was in the wind. Something big, or perhaps many things. The trip to Constantinople had its
practical purposes, to move wine and ale from the cellars
of a prosperous city to the thirsty throats of one recently
in ruins, but Torquato suspected there was more to it than
that. Any driver, or group of monks, could have made the
journey as easily, and many of them were more experienced at both travel and the world. There was something
happening that Jacobo hoped to hear of, and so, he had
sent Brother Torquato, hoping that the monk‘s half-human countenance and ability to blend into a crowd would
allow him to bring back the information that was desired.
If only he could discover what that was.
It was a long time before his second sharp knock was
answered. The man who stood inside the doorway glared
at him in open hostility, and Torquato bowed quickly, taking half a step back to show he meant no harm.
“I did not mean to disturb,” he said, “but I have a
wagon laden with wine and ale from the cellars of Venice
standing at the end of the alley. I have been directed to
deliver several barrels of each to you, and have come to
make good on that bargain.”
Torquato watched the man warily. There was something more than normal caution in that craggy face, and
it wouldn’t do to walk into trouble with his eyes closed.
The man glared at him again, then swept his gaze up and
down Torquato’s plain brown robes. Balding, slightly portly
from the sampling of his own wares over the years, the
only indication that the monk might be more than what
he appeared to be, a pale, ugly little man, was the almost
grayish pallor of his skin. In the darkened alley, this was
not something the man could make out, so he made a
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mistake. He assumed that he faced nothing more than a
simple monk with a wagon, and he sneered.
“Come back in the morning,” he said gruffly. “We’re
open now-there’s no time to unload a wagon.”
Torquato stood his ground, and smiled. “Perhaps if I
were to unload myself?”he asked, keeping his voice steady.
“I have to be out of the city by morning, and on my way to
Adrianople for another delivery.”
The man scowled. “I said come back in the morning,”
he repeated. “We aren’t taking deliveries tonight. We had
some trouble yesterday, and there’s no one to spare.”
“I’d be happy to unload myself,” Torquato insisted. I
can bring it in and load it wherever you ask. In fact, if you
are shorthanded, I’d be happy to help out for a while. It’s
been a long trip, and I haven’t had much company.”
The man looked as if he were about to slam the door
and go about his business, but he hesitated. Once again,
Torquato felt the man’s gaze sliding over him, appraising.
Then the door swung wider.
“All right, then,” the man said. “I’m Lucius. If you
need me, I’ll be in the front. Bring the ale and wine in and
stack it here by the stairs. We’ll take it down later. Whatever you do, if you see anyone around this door, or in the
alley, close up, and come and find me. Like I said, we had
trouble yesterday. We don’t want any tonight.”
Torquatobowed slightly, and turned toward the wagon
without a word. The quicker he got his goods inside and
the wagon to a place of greater safety, the sooner he could
relax. Besides, this would be a perfect opportunity to listen. He wasn’t certain what kind of trouble the man spoke
of, but whatever it was, it might prove of interest to Jacobo.
Any way you sliced it, it would be of interest to Torquato
himself. He’d not spent much time outside the walls of
his order, and even inside he was most often found alone
in the cellars,poring over recipes acquiredfrom other vintners and working out ways to improve his wine.
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-
The order had been for three barrels of ale and four
of wine. It wasn’t a huge order, and for a fleeting moment
Torquato wondered why, if this were all they desired, the
tavern’s owners didn’t order from local vintners. Surely
they could find such small amounts at a much cheaper
cost than that of shipping it in from Venice. More to consider. More questions, no answers.
As he moved up and down the alley, rolling the barrels slowly, not wanting to give any indication of his true
nature unless the issue were forced,two sets of eyes watched
his movements carefully. On the roof of the building directly across the alley, Arturo and Leonid waited. They
watched as he worked, sensing what he kept to himself
and wondering at his presence.
They also watched the front of the tavern, those
coming, and those going, waiting. Half the night had
passed, and what they sought would not be long in coming, if it came at all. They sat cross-legged and swathed
in shadow like two blonde gargoyles, watching the alley
and the street beyond.
Torquato did not see them, and when he’d unloaded
the ale, and the wine, he returned to his wagon, moved it
a few streets down, into another alley, drawing a covering
over it and tying it securely. When he was done, it looked
like any other wagon of the quarter. Dingy and half-abandoned. He unhitched the horses, leading them back down
the street, and tied them at the head of the alley by the
tavern. They might have belonged to a customer, or the
tavern itself. He hoped they would be there when he returned, but there was nothing to do for it. He had to speak
with the owners of the tavern before he could depart, and
that meant returning to the back and inside, where he
could lend a hand where it was needed.
As he stepped in through the back entrance, he heard
a soft sound and glanced up and behind himself. He saw
nothing in the shadows, and the sound did not repeat it-
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self. Uneasily, he entered the back of the tavern and closed
the door behind himself, locking it securely.
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Chapter Fifteen
Inside the tavern, Ian and Pasqual had moved their
game board to a table near the rear. The pieces were
arranged to appear as if they were in the midst of a game,
but no moves had been made in some time. They were
waiting, and watching. It was unlikely that those who
had made the attack by daylight would be back tonight.
In fact, judging by the manner in which the pair had
apparently left the building, it was unlikely they would
ever return. Still, they might not be working alone, and
those allies might try another attack. So Ian and Pasqual
watched, and they waited, and as the evening progressed, the room filled slowly, then more quickly, all
hint of trouble forgotten in the easy flow of liquor, blood
wine and the prospect of a night’s entertainment.
“HOWlong do we have to put on this show,” Ian
asked at last, staring at the mock game between them
and toying with one of the pieces. “I’m ready to be out
of here and back at the camp.”
“Not yet,” Pasqual replied. “There is time. It won’t
take us long to make the journey, and if there is anything to be learned here, and we let it slip away from us
without trying for it, it won’t be a happy reunion when
we get back. Surely you have the patience to sacrifice a
single night?”
“We are wasting our time,” Ian growled. “If there
were anything to learn in this God-forsaken place, it
has been lost in the wine and the ale. There are only a
couple of others here who aren’t mortal, and neither of
them is any threat. The bartender is new, but he is our
man, and the new watcher is in pl‘ace in the kitchen.
What could happen that would require us to be sitting
here, wasting our time and watching vermin crawl over
and around the tables?”
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He punctuated this last by snaking his fist out and
bringing it down hard on a roach that had flicked its
antennae up over the table’s edge, then drawn itself up
to search for food.
“Arrogant little bastard,” Ian frowned, wiping his
hand on his cloak.
Pasqual laughed. “Impatient, even with the bugs,” he
snorted. “YOU would make a poor spy, I’m thinking. An
even less inspiring priest. I can’t imagine your reaction to
a long, involved presentation of some poor man’s sins.”
‘‘I would relieve him of his misery,” Ian asserted,
sitting back and scanning the room in obvious boredom. “That response would empty the pews quickly
enough. Perhaps I’d explain to him about Caine, deliver a short sermon on the coming darkness and how
his weak, worthless life would soon devote itself only
to my pleasure. I certainly would not sit, hour after hour,
as he poured out a string of nonsense that I was to answer with a dose of Hail Mary’s and penance.”
Ian rose. “I’m going to take a walk,” he announced.
“I’ll check around the alley in back, and then the street.
No sense in both of us wasting our time in here, and
there are a couple of people watching us and beginning
to wonder why we play this game, hour after hour, without making any moves.”
Pasqual did not answer immediately. He was
troubled by something, it was obvious in his expression, but on the surface there was nothing wrong with
Ian’s suggestion. They had had no indication that anything was amiss in the crowd. There were a couple of
Alfonzo’s men in the tavern, trying to appear as if they
were regulars and passing well enough, except among
those who were watching for them. This was to be expected. When something out of the ordinary happened
in the quarter, Alfonzo’s people were bound to show up
sooner or later.
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Pasqual nodded, at last. He was clearly not happy,
but he couldn’t come up with a viable reason to hold Ian
back. The younger Cainite was uncomfortable with inaction. There was some wisdom in watching the exterior
of the tavern, as well, and Pasqual knew he could handle
anything that might take place in his partner’s absence.
Ian drifted away from the table, skirting the tables
where Alfonzo’s men sat, making loud, boisterous conversation and pretending to drink too much ale. He
didn’t want to be dragged into that conversation, or to
draw any unwanted attention to himself, or Pasqual.
The two of them operated in a wholly different fashion
from the boisterous Raphael and his ill-tempered friend,
Gradin. Ian slipped out the door and into the shadows,
relieved to be on his feet and moving. He glanced down
the street, then back the other way. He saw a man tying horses at the head of the alley. Short, portly and
bald, wearing the robes of a Dominican. Ian hesitated.
There was something odd in the man’s presence, particularly with a pair of horses.
Ian watched and waited as the figure turned into
the alley behind the tavern. The monk, if he was indeed a monk, did not reappear, and Ian’s curiosity got
the better of him. He moved to the head of the alley,
glanced around at the street in either direction, then
slipped into the shadows of the alley himself.
There was no one in sight. There were no side entrances to the alley, the only way out was the way he’d
come in, and the far end, which was a long block away.
There had been no time for the monk to make his way
to the far end. Ian glanced at the rear entrance to the
tavern. It was closed, as it had been when he’d last seen
it upon their arrival. Could the monk have gone inside? What did it mean, if he had, and why-the
question nagged at him-did the man have two horses?
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Ian moved down the alley, splitting his concentration between the far end of the alley, and the door to
the tavern. If someone had entered this way, then he
and Pasqual had better find out who, and why. This
was the sort of information they’d been sent to gather,
and it wouldn’t do to let something important slip right
out from under his nose.
If Pasqual had been with him, he would possibly
have pointed out that Ian was learning too slowly. He
was focused on the immediate and unaware of the larger
scope of the moment. He was in danger of sudden checkmate and too blinded to take notice. The twins watched
him from above for a moment, then, at a nod from
Arturo, they launched silently from the roof and into
the alley. Ian heard the whoosh of their bodies slicing
the air, and spun toward the entrance to the alley, but
it was too late. Leonid landed easily, directly in front of
him, and as he launched himself at that blond-haired,
grinning threat, a heavy weight hit him from behind,
and he found himself pinned beneath Arturo. Ian
fought, but he was no match for the two, and before he
knew what had happened he found his arms manacled
tightly behind him and a leather hood drawn over his
head to cut off both sight and the ability to call for aid.
He was hoisted roughly onto the twins’ shoulders, and
they were off, moving swiftly down the street to where
others waited with a cart. Ian was dropped, struggling
madly, into the back of the cart and quickly covered
with a tarp.
The twins spoke a few terse commands to the
driver, then spun away into the night. The cart jostled
off down the street toward Alfonzo’s mansion, and the
street, once again, fell silent.
*
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*
*
217
Inside the tavern, Brother Torquato had found
Lucius, rushing about behind the bar and shouting orders at two other men, who appeared ready to snap and
break his neck. The place was packed with all sorts,
some obviously Cainite, others mortal-a rough crowd.
Brother Torquato had seen enough drunks in his time,
but never so close-packed and full of energy. He touched
Lucius lightly on the arm as he passed.
“I have finished unloading,” he said calmly. “How
can I be of service?”
Lucius stared at him for a moment,
uncomprehendingly, then grunted. “Oh, yes.” He
thought for a moment, then snapped, “grab one of those
barrels of ale you just unloaded and roll it out to the
front. We’re halfway through the barrel I opened an
hour ago, and it’s flowing like water. I’ve never seen
such thirst. When that’s done, meet me in the back,
and we’ll stow that wine. I don’t want it getting uncorked and sampled before 1 have the chance to collect
its cost.”
Torquato smiled and nodded, spinning back to the
rear of the tavern. He gripped one of the barrels, started
to lift it and take it to the front, then remembered where
he was, and that no one, so far, knew him for more than
he appeared-a mortal wagon driver. He tipped the barrel on its edge and rolled it slowly toward the front of
the tavern, making a show of manipulating it carefully,
as if it were a great burden that taxed his strength.
As he worked, he thought. He took in the crowd,
watched each table from the corner of his eye, fascinated. It was so different from his own world, the quiet
cellars, the long hours with parchment and pen, worrying over inventory and aging, vintner’s recipes and
savoring the silence of his brethren. Here, there were
no boundaries, it seemed. Some were so drunk they staggered, their faces reddened and their voices loud. Others
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slumped, the wine, or the ale taking control of their
thoughts and speeding them away to' some far place,
beyond the walls of tavern and city. The end product,
he realized, of his own art.
Also, there was the blood wine. Torquato had only
recently become fascinated with the subtle and specialized art of making blood-laced wine the undead could
consume. He wondered which method had been employed in its creation, longed to test the quality. He
himself preferred the newer method, that which required a young, strong mortal and half a barrel of wine.
One plied the subject with glass after glass, cajoling,
teasing, then taking firm control of the mind. Once this
was accomplished, an inordinate amount of wine would
pour, the subject unconscious by this time, but still controlled. When just the perfect balance had been
reached, before the subject could void the contents of
bladder or blood, or die from the consumption, they
must be lain back on the table and drained, quicklycatching every drop through a stone table with a funnel
and a drain, and corked. This was essential. The product had to be stored in the coldest of the cellars, and
consumed quickly. There was no good way to age the
output, so it had to be combined with well-aged wine
from the start.
It did not take Torquato long to get the barrel in
place behind the bar, and one of the two men helped
him muscle it into place. It was none too soon. The
first barrel was drawing its last, and the bartended deftly
unplugged the new barrel, popping the wooden spigot
into place and drawing a mug to test. He sipped, smiled,
and nodded at Torquato, who smiled. He knew that it
was good, he'd brewed it himself.
This done, he returned to the back, where he found
Lucius leaning on a wall wearily. The man sized him
up, nodded, and started toward the back stairs. Torquato
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.
grabbed a wine barrel and tipped it carefully on its edge,
but Lucius, who was watching him now, shook his head.
“None of that nonsense,” he said with a wink. “Your
act may fool those in the front, but with enough wine
or ale, you could convince them you’re their mother. I
know what you are, so heft that barrel and be quick
about it. If I’d wanted someone to roll them down the
stairs to burst and be spoiled, I would have called one
of the boys from the front.”
Torquato blinked, nodded, and hefted the barrel
easily. There were six in all, the seventh having been
the one he took to the bar, and Lucius stood aside,
watching him, obviously with no intention of carrying
any barrels himself. Torquato didn’t mind. It was easy,
familiar work.
“This your first stop?”Lucius asked, suddenly more
friendly. Away from the bustle of the tavern, his features had softened a bit. Torquato imagined it was a
relief to be out of the pressure-packed environment,
even for a few moments.
“First in the city. I’ve been at Hadrian’s Rest for
the past few nights.”
“Oh?”Lucius asked. “You came from Adrianople,
then. It seems like everyone is coming through there
these nights. I’ve heard some stories about that place,
now, good ones, I might add. Strange goings on in those
camps. Caine himself has been seen, you know? And
others. I’d dearly love to see what goes on there, but
those who dwell there aren’t fond of outsiders.”
Torquato laughed. “I have no sign of Caine,” he
replied, “but I have met others. It seems these camps
really are the a nexus of activity.”
Lucius followed him down the stairs. “You might
want to keep your visit to the camps to yourself,” the
man said, almost conspiratorially. “There are those in
the tavern tonight who are seeking information, and
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they might be willing to use methods that would be
less than pleasant to drag it out of a man.. . or other.”
“I’m sure I have nothing they would be interested
in,” Torquato replied. ‘‘I did not speak to this Malachite, and only saw him for a few short moments. He
was speaking with another, and she was no Nosferatu. I
didn’t want to impose.”
“She?”Lucius asked. Torquato glanced at the man.
He certainly was the curious sort. Still, there was no
reason to distrust him. Beyond a few sharp words at the
door, the man had offered him no ill will.
“Yes,”Torquato continued, placing the first barrel
and starting up the stairs again. He gave a quick account of the meeting between Gabriella, and Malachite.
Lucius listened attentively, making encouraging comments now and again, but mostly listening. Torquato
was happy for the opportunity to hone his conversational skills, and to test his newest tale before taking it
home and presenting it to his brethren.
“You say he offered her support?”Lucius asked when
Torquato was finished. “Very strange times, indeed. That
must have been the Lady Gabriella. She is out of Genoa,
and well thought of in the city, but certainly not in the
context of being a friend to Malachite.”
“Theydid not seem to be friends.” Torquato commented.
Lucius laughed. “In this city, and near it, it is best
to trust later and question earlier. Everyone has their
own stake in what is to come. I’ve heard the rumor before that the camps would empty. Now you say they
will move toward France. This is a new twist, but better news tlian to hear that they intended to return here
and try to carve out a corner of the Latin Quarter for
their own. The city has room for only so many leaders.”
“That is true of any city,” Torquato said, hefting
the last of the barrels to his shoulder and beginning the
descent to the cellars. “Who is the leader here?”
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The question was innocent enough, but it got a
start out of Lucius. A short, guilty expression flitted
across his rough features, then was gone again.
“There is no prince in Constantinople,” he answered. “There are many who may step forward and
claim such a position, but that is the game, you see.
None wants to stake a claim he or she cannot back up,
and none is certain enough-yet-of
their control.
“There is the Bishop Alfonzo, very likely the
strongest and best connected, but with difficulties of
his own. There have been recent attacks, and distractions. There is the Lady Gabriella, she whom you saw
in the camps. Rumor had it that Malachite would return and set abour the job of rebuilding the city in its
own image, but that appears to be a false report. There
are a couple of others.”
Torquato placed the final barrel. He turned with
a quick smile. “Well, I will leave you to your customers, your tavern, and your many leaders,” he said. “I
have a long journey still ahead of me and I have only
barely enough time to get out of the city and find a
place to shelter for the night. It has been interesting
talking with you.”
Lucius nodded, his gaze far away, as if other
thoughts had suddenly intruded. “Thank you for your
cargo, and your assistance,” the bartender said, glancing up with his smile back in place. “Have a good
journey, and may you continue to avoid Dark Caine on
the roads.”
They both laughed at this, and moments later
Lucius was holding the door for Torquato, who stepped
into the alley, and with a wave was gone. He found
his horses a t the end of the alley, just as he’d left them,
and led them off down the street toward the alley and
his wagon.
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As he trotted away, he chided himself for surrendering so much information to the man. But, after all,
he had spoken only of local matters and he owed this
Gabriella woman nothing. He had kept his message
from Markus- Musa Giovanni secret and that was all
that truly mattered. Malachite would soon be gone for
France and, assuming the news he’d conveyed was welcome, been meeting Giovanni on the road.
*
*
*
Lucius watched for a long moment as Torquato left,
then glanced furtively over his shoulder into the gloomy
interior of the tavern.
Seeing no one, he stepped into the alley and quietly closed the door behind himself. He gave a short
low whistle, and moments later, Arturo dropped through
the shadows from the rooftop once more, slipping up
beside the bartender so quickly and quietly that the man
nearly screamed at the hand on his shoulder.
“What is it?” Arturo asked. “You were not to call
us until you knew something important. If they find
that you speak with me, they will kill you.”
Lucius nodded, glancing about nervously. “This is
important,” he said. Then, breathlessly and with as few
words as possible, he passed on what he’d learned of
Gabriella’s meeting with Malachite, and of the coming
exodus from the camps. Arturo listened intently, particularly the part about Prince Licinius of Adrianople.
Then, without acknowledging the message, or the messenger, he was gone. He scaled the wall and slipped over
the roof like a shadow, joined instantly by his twin, and
the two streaked off across the city, leaving Lucius standing alone in the alley. He watched a moment longer,
glanced up and down the alley, then slipped back into
the noise and jumble of the tavern. The door closed
behind him with a solid thud.
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O n the street, the soft clatter of horse’s hooves and
the creak of a wagon’s wheels ushered Brother Torquato
toward the gates and beyond, whistling softly to himself, already mulling over the favors he might ask of
the Giovanni traders when he returned to Venice. The
tavern, and its curious bartender, fell away behind him
with the wind.
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Chapter Sixteen
Lucita and Anatole headed for the camps once again,
but the tension was thick. Something had changed with
her companion, and Lucita wasn’t absolutely certain what
it was. She didn’t want to confront him, because she wasn’t
certain what the confrontation would entail, and there
were things she needed to accomplish. She didn’t want to
be out of the city any longer than was absolutely necessary, but this trip couldn’t be put off. Anatole had been
her companion many times in the past, but each time there
had come a point when they parted. She had not anticipated that it would be so soon, but she could sense that he
was pulling away from her, distracted by something beyond her understanding.
Anatole was a good companion, and he could be an
invaluable counselor,but he had his own road. Sometimes
it was easy to push this aside, focusing on herself and her
goals without consideringthat he might not agree. Anatole
hadn’t openly challenged her, but she suspected that there
was more to his silence than introspection.
They were making for Hadrian’s Rest, a rest-stop on
their road, when Lucita caught sight of activity ahead.
There were fires lining the road, and many voices floated
out to them. “What’sthis?” she asked.
“Our destination,” Anatole answered.
“What?But the camps are several nights off still.”
“Their heart is here,” Anatole said. “Here is the thing
has stirred them.”
Lucita nodded, but did not reply. The voices were
growing louder, coming from a large clearing just off the
road. She stopped the carriage and descended. Before she
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headed toward the small crowd, her hand slipped to the
hilt of her blade, as if testing to be certain it rested where
she’d left it.
“1 do not believe you will need that tonight,” Anatole
said. “They are concentrated on another. I can hear his
voice from here.”
She turned and glanced at him, then returned her
attention to the voices. As they approached, she could
make out that there were murmurs in the clearing, but
only one voice speaking aloud. It was a strong voice, speaking in powerful and compelling Greek. It rang through
the streets and drew the attention of all who were gathered. Lucita understood the language well enough, but her
ear was more used to Latin and the langue d’oc, so it was
one of the murmurs she caught first. “Malachite has returned,” one of the gathered souls said.
Lucita stopped for a moment, bewildered. “Malachite
is here?” she whispered.
Anatole did not answer, but neither did he stop at
her side. The monk continued on toward those who were
gathered, and Lucita hurried after him, falling into step at
his side just as he reached the rear of the small crowd.
“The time has come,” Malachite intoned, “to move
on. The city is behind us. The Dream?Michael’s dream of
a great city is just as it has always been. It is behind us and
ahead. We carry it with us, and we can rebuild it in any
image we can imagine, and many that no single one of us
could imagine. There are leaders to show the way, and
there are roads that lead to better times.
‘‘I ask you,” he said, “are the camps our, your future?
Is that the end of those who ruled the greatest city in the
world?Will that be the end of our road, or the beginning?
I will go there to bring my message and then leave that
place. I am going on a journey that could end a thousand
ways, and all of them better than t h e ruin of
Constantinople and the camps of Adrianople. War nips
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at your heels. The city you loved rejects you, the city you
have latched onto ignores you-for the moment.
“You are the disowned. There is power in the camps,
among those of us disowned. In numbers, in wisdom and
years. We believe strongly enough to deliver yourselves
from the fall of Constantinople. Let that belief carry us to
something new. Something even more grand, more powerful. Let that belief lend us wings. It is time to fly.”
The words were overblown and grand, but Lucita
could see that they were being gobbled voraciously by the
gathered throng, and she knew how well it would all play
in Adrianople camps. Even here, on the road, there were
other Nosferatu, hanging on Malachite’severy word. There
were small bands of Toreador, bedraggled and wide-eyed,
ready to map such a journey in drama and song. Ready to
rebuild the finery they remembered and to leave this nightmare pit they had called home for too long.
Malkavians dotted the small crowd, here and there,
disheveled robes and stark features rigid. Among them,
Lucita was startled to see the two who had joined Anatole
and herself on the rooftops. It seemed that some of the
questions were being answered.
“They have heard him before,” she whispered, turning to Anatole. “You knew this?”
“I knew that he’s been to the camps and would come
to his city’s very door to carry his message,” Anatole replied. “I knew that the camps would empty, and that it
would happen soon. I did not know all the details, nor do
I know them now. You indicated before that you would be
happy if those in the camps would move on, so I did not
think you would be upset to find out it was happening.”
‘‘I did not know it would be Malachite,” she replied.
“Has he found the Dracon?Is he here alone?”
“The Dracon’s location is as much a mystery as it has
been since he departed the city,” Anatole assured her.
“Malachite is on his own quest. He has received visions,
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and he will not remain here for long, whether they follow
him, or not. Many have already decided. Others join them
daily. The only real task left to him is to decide how to
control them. It is one thing to convince them all to leave
here, where they don’t wish to be in the first place. Once
they are moving, however, or once they reach Francethat is where I understand he would lead them-it is
another matter.”
“It isn’t a task I would set for myself,” Lucita agreed.
“I wonder why he bothers. I wonder why he doesn’t just
take those who would go willingly, and leave the rest to
rot here.”
‘‘I told you,” Anatole replied almost smugly, “he acts
upon a vision.”
Lucita restrained the urge to roll her eyes at this. She
had heard Anatole speak of visions many times before.
Sometimes they seemed to be honest glimpses into the
future. Other times she was certain he had cloaked thin
suspicions and lightly veiled intuitions in the language of
vision for his own purposes. To many, wisdom could take
on the trappings of divine knowledge with no great leap
of faith, and it was to such as those that “visions”appealed
most strongly. Lucita was fonder of hard fact and action.
They watched a few moments longer, then moved
along the side of the crowd, trying to make out faces. Lucita
saw few that she knew, though there were some. She had
known at least a portion of each of the great houses in
Constantinople before the fall. She knew there were others would be in the camps, those who had already been
convinced, or those who kept to themselves, preferring to
remain in their dens and hideaways, seeking their own
answers, or just waiting to decide whether to stay, or to
go, when the time came and the pilgrimage began.
Malachite had disappeared from his makeshift stage,
and the crowd dispersed into smaller groups, surrounding
fires, or retreating into doorways and beneath the street.
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The words that had been spoken would be contemplated,
spread to those who had not been present, discussed, argued, and remembered. That was the purpose of such a
gathering, to stir the coals in the fire and fan it to a blaze.
Malachite, it seemed, had a particular talent for this.
“He will have them ready to leave within a month‘s
time,” Anatole commented. “The time is here. If it had
not been Malachite, it would have been another. They
cannot leech off of the side of Adrianople forever, and
there is no place for them any longer within the Empire.”
“That is their own choice,”Lucita replied. “We choose
our place in the night, then we deal with those choices.”
“I hope that you will deal so easily with the bedfellow you have chosen,” Anatole said. “I am not so certain
of vour choice.”
“You mean Alfonzo? I thought you supported him
as prince.”
“I supported you, and whatever you chose,but Alfonzo
is a different matter. He may see the strength in cooperation, or he may turn on you the moment this business
with Gabriella is concluded. He will support himself, and
no other, in the end.”
‘‘I would expect no less, old friend,” she smiled suddenly. “Surely you don’t believe I would trust him? I do
what I do to create the lesser of evils, or possibly to geld
the greater of them. Gabriella would be a problem, were
she to rule, and given free reign, Narses might well have
gotten Alfonzo into power without my assistance. Even if
I fail, I will have severed, or severely damaged, Alfonzo’s
ties to Venice. MonGada should be pleased.”
“Let us hope your sire sees the wisdom in this that
you do,” Anatole commented dryly. “I assume you lied
when you told Alfonzo YSU had sent word to Madrid?”
“Actually,”Lucita smiled, “I sent word after we spoke.
No sense in being rash, but I don’t want to appear to be
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acting too independently. I’d rather that Mongada continue to trust me, as well.”
“A wise choice,” Anatole nodded.
Suddenly, a tall, slender figure melted from the shadows, and the two stopped.
Malachite watched them in silence, studying them
intently.
“Surely,”he said at last, “you have not come to join
me, Lucita of Aragon. Do not be surprised I recognize you,
you who came to our lands to help bring Byzantium down
in flames.”
“You see what you wish to see,” Lucita countered,barely
controlling the urge to grip the hilt of her sword. “Perhaps
you sell me short. Still, you are correct. I have not come to
join you. In truth, I did not know you were here.”
‘‘I have not announced myself, except in small gatherings,” Malachite replied. “I prefer to let those within
Adrianople’s walls and in fallen Constantinople believe
the reports of my arrival are similar to the sightings of
Caine, and Calomena. Rumors, myths. I would rather
they believe I am running about the globe in search of
the Dracon.”
A hint of melancholy echoed in these last words, and
for the briefest moment a flicker of something akin to sorrow flitted across the Nosferatu’s hideous countenance.
Lucita caught it, even though it was fleeting, and he was
still cloaked in shadows.
“I am leaving soon for the West,” Malachite continued. ‘‘I have traveled far, been through many
adventures, and seen a great number of things that can
only be considered as signs. I believe that we will be
welcome in Paris, and so, I will lead those who will follow. There is nothing for them here, and destruction is
close at hand. Licinius might have taken them in, but
this is a troubled group, and they are more restless than
that. They don’t wish to be taken in, but to rebuild, to
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find a new dream and make it their own. When wanderlust strikes, it is a hard thing to control.”
“The old ways are passing,” Lucita said. “The old
dream is faded, as all dreams must. If half the tales they
tell of you are true, then you should be wise enough to see
this. The dream your people knew is gone. The perfect
city, the work of the trinity of Byzantine elders, is no more.
Two of those three are no more. The Dracon flees, and if I
guess rightly, has n o more desire to return t o
Constantinople than these who would follow you west. It
is over.”
“Endingsand beginnings,”Anatole chimed in, “have
a way of blending and twisting until it is difficult to separate one from the other.”
Malachite nodded at these words.
“I will travel your road with you for a time,” Anatole
continued. “I have been too long in the city, and I sense
something here-something important. I will not follow.
I follow no one but myself, and my vision, but I will go
west. It is time.”
Malachite nodded again, not seeming surprised.
Anatole knew that his own people had been circulating
through the camps. Those who followed him were dedicated beyond thought. They would not follow if he
remained behind, but it was obvious they wanted to leave.
The very ground beneath their feet seemed to groan with
the wait of the camps, as if it would heave up and cast
them along their way to be rid of them.
There is a sensation you get when you belong somewhere. That sensation had left the camps. It could be
seen in the eyes and heard it in the voices of all who
surrounded the three. The time had come for action, for
motion. This place had gone stale, and it no longer felt
like a settlement at all, but instead like a trap. It would
not take long for it to become an empty husk. And for
all Lucita’s scoffing, stories of Caine were not something
Anatole could ignore.
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“What of Gabriella?“Lucita asked. Malachite started
slightly, and her expression said that knew she’d hit her
mark. “She has spies throughout the camps. Will they
follow; do you think?”
Malachite had regained his composure. ‘‘I don’t presume to speak for Gabriella,” he answered. ‘‘I don’t know
what she plans, but I do not believe she is ready to leave
the city. She still has her connections, and unlike many
others, her home is not destroyed. She is comfortable
enough, for the moment, but I do not believe she will
leave any here. There would be no purpose.”
“Gabriella,” Lucita said, “is not a follower. I am not
surprised she will not follow you, but 1wonder. If she is to
stay in Constantinople, will she follow another, or will
she try to take control?”
“That is an issue to be taken up with those of the
city,” Malachite replied stoically. “It is no concern of mine.”
Lucita watched him carefully, but he gave away nothing. It was obvious he knew something of Gabriella, but
what that might be, he was not going to reveal. Lucita
turned away.
“I see nothing further to be learned here. I am returning to the city,” she turned to Anatole, “will you be
joining me?”
Anatole shook his head. “I will not return to the city,”
he replied. “There is nothing further I can accomplish
there, and the best support I can be to you is to remove
the tension between myself and the bishop before it can
become an obstacle.” .
Lucita watched him for a moment, bit her lip and
almost asked him to reconsider. There were many times
the two of them did not see eye to eye, but in a rough
situation, there was no other she would prefer to have at
her side. This was certainly shaping up to be a rough situation, and though she’d been angry with him, she found
she was also loath to see him depart.
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“Are you sure?”she asked. “There is so much to do.”
“For you, yes,” Anatole smiled, “and you are more
than adequate to the task. We will meet again, you and I.
Perhaps we will travel again, as well. For now, I must go,
and you have your own roads to travel. I wish you well.”
Giving in to the moment, Lucita stepped close and
embraced the monk. “You as well. And watch this one,”
she said, nodding toward Malachite. “I’m not certain what
motivateshim, but I’m certain that whatever it is will come
before any momentary alliances he might make.”
Both Malachite and Anatole laughed at this, and
Lucita began to grow angry, then let it go with a shake of
her head. The two of them were cut from similar cloth,
even if the weave were drastically different. Neither would
trust the other too far, but their minds were set, and nothing she could do would persuade them otherwise.
“I must go,” she said, turning back toward where
they’d left the carriage. “I have to reach the city before
nightfall. Until we meet again, old friend,” she said, smiling at Anatole a final time. He nodded in reply, and she
turned away, already thinking of what she would tell
Alfonzo, and the report she must make to Madrid.
The two watched her depart, then turned away, both
from her and each other. Malachite returned to whatever
underground burrow he’d chosen for himself, and Anatole
took to the streets to gather those of his following who
were already present.
Lucita mounted the carriage, took up the reins, and
made as tight a turn as the narrow, dusty road would allow, angling back out of the camps and onto the long
road to the city. There was plenty of night left to her,
and she intended to make the most of every moment of
it. She whipped the horses to a gallop and roared back
down the road.
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Chapter Seventeen
Arturo and Leonid had lost no time in reaching
Alfonzo with what they had learned. They were back at
the mansion long before the wagon carrying Ian could
arrive, and when it did, Alfonzo had a hand-picked crew,
including the twins, waiting for him. The bishop had lis,
tened carefully as the two reported what they had learned.
Since that moment, Alfonzo had paced the corridors,
walked along the balconies and cursed loudly at any who
came near. His anger was spectacular, and none wished to
give him another opportunity to vent it. He sent Matteo
for Lucita, but the young man returned, greatly agitated,
reporting that she was not to be found. Alfonzo ordered
Matteo to walk with him, turned on his heel, and started
toward the balconies once again, retracing steps he’d
walked a dozen times that night.
Matteo hurried in his lord’s wake, uncertain whether
he should be honored at the opportunity to accompany
the bishop, or in fear for his life at being the only living
thing close at hand to smite.
“It is too much,” Alfonzo growled at last. He’d been
stalking up and down the length of a balcony that overlooked the street leading toward the city gate. “Are there
none to be trusted anywhere in this forsaken cesspool of
a city? Everywhere I turn, I find betrayal. Venice sends
assassins to kill my childe-wanting I am certain only to
protect me. Gabriella sends her minions skulking about
the Latin Quarter, bribing tavern owners and plotting to
take over the city-and with a Nosferatu. I take a new
childe, and now I am threatened with the same treatment over her that I suffered for Isadora. Lucita, who
claims to support me, heads toward Adrianople at the
worst possible time,’’ Alfonzo rounded on Matteo quickly,
“and has been seducing my closest assistant from beneath
my very nose.”
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“She will return,” Matteo replied, blushing, but not
denying what his lord could clearly see.
Emboldened by the fact he was still standing, Matteo
continued. “It is not too late to turn what you have learned
of Gabriella to your advantage, milord,”he said, speaking
quickly so he could get out what he had to say before
Alfonzo flew into another rage. “She does not yet know
what you know. Why not send a messenger, immediately,
to Licinius?You could tell him about Katrina yourself. He
didn’t want her and if Gabriella is given no opportunity
to make it seem as if you stole her from behind his back,
then there will be no quarrel. At the same time you could
tell him of her plotting, directly outside his own gates,
with the Nosferatu. A fast rider could catch Lady Lucita
and the monk as well, tell them to return to your side. ”
Alfonzo stared at him, concentrating. Then, the
bishop turned away and glanced down at the street below
so that Matteo would not catch him smiling. The boy had
promise. He had the mind for intrigue, and he was showing more courage than Alfonzo would have given him
credit for. Perhaps Lucita had been good for him.
Just at that moment, the clatter of horses hooves on
the street below announced the arrival of a wagon. Close
on its heels, another carriage whipped around the corner,
coming from the city gates.
“Send a messenger to Licinius,”Alfonzo said quietly,
not turning. “Someone who is fast, and can be trusted.
Not the twins. I have work for them here, and I need someone who will not be hampered by the sunrise. I will feed
him my blood and more to the horse, so they may make
fast time over the road. It is imperative that the message
reach Licinius before Gabriella has a chance to be heard.
I will pen the message myself. Send your messenger to me
within the hour.”
Matteo bowed and backed away, hurrying back down
the corridor and center stairs toward the kitchen. He knew
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who the carriage belonged to from sound alone. He could
sense her, and he knew that Alfonzo had sensed her as
well. W h y had she returned so soon?
AShe neared the kitchens, he saw a man he knew
only as Luis lounging against the door frame. Luis was one
of the captains of the mercenaries that Alfonzo employed
to assist in keeping order in the quarter. They were seldom visible by day, when the citizens of the city might
seek the good graces of the bishop, or leaders of church
and state were abroad. It was a thin veneer of respectability, but as long as Alfonzo was willing to perpetuate it,
those who walked in the daylight seemed only too ready
to accept it.
Luis was a good man. He’d been with Alfonzo since
he was a boy, and if it were not for the fact he hailed from
a small city in the mountains, and not Constantinople
itself, Matteo might not have considered him a mercenary at all. Matteo hurried up and greeted the soldier,
outlining his need of a messenger as quickly and concisely
as possible.
“Can you do it?” he asked at last. ‘‘I would ask for
one of your men, in most cases, but this time the bishop
has requested someone who will be fast, someone who
will be listened to when they arrive-and someone he
can trust. There are not many to whom this description
can be applied.”
“I will go,” Luis replied, draining a flask of ale
he’d been nursing. “I’ve been itching for a reason to
get out of this place. There is nothing 1 hate more
than sitting inactive.”
“Good,” Matteo sighed with relief. “He is waiting for
you now. This is a very important task, my friend. Be certain that if it goes quickly, and well, the reward for this
success will not be a small one.”
Luis nodded, dropped the now-empty flask on top of
the barrel and turned toward the stairs.
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‘‘ThenI’d better not keep the bishop waiting,” he said
with a laugh, clearly anxious to taste his master’s favor.
Matteo watched him go and was suddenly, deeply
aware of just how much he would have wanted that mission for himself only a few weeks ago. Luis and his steed
would both drink deeply from the bishop’s veins so that
they could ride without rest, making Adrianople in a day
and a night when it took others a week. The beast would
have to be killed-for the blood would eventually make
the animal unmanageable to all save the bishop himself-but the man would rise in status if he did his work
well. To taste the bishop’s blood again would become
the center of the man’s existence, as it had once been
the center of Matteo’s.
Before Lucita.
Snapping out of his reverie, he through the doors to
the kitchen, headed toward the stables. He wanted to be
there to greet her, and he wanted to be there to help supervise the unloading of the prisoner. It was important
that as few as possible among the staff witnessed the transfer. It was not outside the realm of possibility that there
were some among them who might take the risk of sending word out to Gabriella, hoping to win favor. Better to
get the thing over with, perhaps he and the twins would
be enough, and get back to Alfonzo as quickly as possible.
That was surely where Lucita would be heading, and
that was another reason for haste. Matteo chastened himself, but could not contain the shivers of anticipation
brought on by the thought of her presence. He felt like
one of the old men in the alleys, punch-drunk on the rotgut remnant at the bottom of barrels thrown out by the
taverns, unable to pull free of the draw of it, despite the
dangers and consequences. He was encouraged that
Alfonzo had not killed him as a traitor, but he had no
illusions. The issue was far from dead-perhaps a great
deal farther from it than he himself.
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He reached the street, and found that Arturo and
Leonid had arrived before him. The driver was holding
his horses steady, and the twins stood beside the back of
the wagon. They were watching Lucita, whose carriage
had pulled up behind them. The distrust on their features
was blatant, and Matteo hurried to intercede.
By the time he’d reached her carriage,Lucita had dismounted and stood beside the street, returning Arturo and
Leonid’s cold stare. The situation was on the verge of a
disaster that Matteo was not equipped to handle.
“The bishop has asked to see you the moment you
arrive,” he called out to Lucita, breaking the silence. He
knew, also, that though his words weren’t exact truth, they
were enough to add a warning to the twins. They might
not trust Lucita, but they knew better than to intercede
in something Alfonzo desired.
‘‘I will see to your carriage,” he continued, slightly
out of breath. He glanced behind and around her. “Where
is the monk?”
“Anatole will not be returning,”she replied. “Are you
disappointed?“ She stepped closer and reached out to trace
her nails across his cheek. ‘‘I thought I would be enough
to keep your interest.”
Matteo gulped. He had no control of the wash of red
heat that flushed his features. He knew that the twins
would see, and that they would be angry. They had never
liked him, sharing time with Alfonzo between themselves
and a mortal. It had been bearable for them when Isadora
was there to share, but now that they had only one master, they were very protective, and very jealous. Only
Alfonzo stood between Matteo and destruction, and if
Lucita continued as she was, he might lose that favor as
well. He had no illusions about his relationship with the
bishop. If he ceased to be of use to his lord, he would simply cease to be. He knew far too much of his lord’s affairs
to be allowed to escape.
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He didn’t even manage to answer. She handed him
the reigns and stepped away from the road, heading toward the rear entrance to the kitchens. Arturo and Leonid
watched her go, then, as she disappeared inside, they
turned as one to face Matteo.
“She is not for you, little dog,” Leonid hissed. “Don’t
get your heart set on things that will drain it.”
Arturo remained silent, but the hatred that seeped
from the darkly beautiful depths of his eyes spoke eloquently. This was to have been their moment. They had
gone, as instructed, and they had returned with what they
sought. They had given counsel, and now, they had their
prisoner. It had been a flawless operation, and it should
have been the focus of the evening. They should be inside, with Alfonzo, receiving the praise and reward they
had earned.
Instead, Lucita would be at his side, and this sniveling mortal piece of flotsam would join them, eventually.
The twins would be consigned to the dungeon, the prisoner, and one another. It was a cycle that wound tighter
and tighter, and sooner or later Matteo knew that it would
unwind like twisted rawhide, snapping out to strike. He
hoped he would be able to avoid that strike, or that some
other would be the one to finally put them over the edge.
They were intelligent, there was no denying that, and they
were good at what they did, but there was something floating beneath the empty surface of each of their stares,
something identical in each, and unique from anything
else Matteo had experienced. They were dangerous, and
they frightened him almost as much as the thought ofwhat
Lucita’s teasing and taunting might bring him if and when
it tempted Alfonzo’s temper beyond its limits.
Matteo stepped up onto the driver’s seat of the carriage and shook the reins, driving around the comer and
down the alley to the side of the mansion. Two large
wooden doors swung open as he approached, and he tumed
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the horses down the slight incline and into the stables
below. He brought the carriage to a halt almost immediately, stepping down and handing the reins to the stable
master. There was a small troupe of half-guards, half stablehands that inhabited this lower level. There were several
ways to enter the main building from below, and they were
all guarded, after their own fashion.
Artemis was the name of the current stable master.
He was a tall, dark-haired man with eyes even darker than
his hair, if that was possible. The man had a constant
stubble of beard, not long, but not well-trimmed either.
Matteo often wondered if the horse master trimmed it with
his dagger on long, boring nights.
He had been in his position for six months, which
was a good deal longer than the term of his predecessor,
who’d run afoul of Leonid one dark night, allowing a horse
to void itself toa near the twins, splattering the floor at
their feet and the tips of their boots. He hadn’t lived long
enough to fall on his knees and brush the leather clean.
The horse had lived slightly longer, but had died in more
pain. After that, Alfonzo had barred the twins from the
stables, except on his direct order. They rarely traveled by
any other means than their own limbs, speed, and agility,
and they had no patience for the animals. The decision
had been very helpful in obtaining a good stable master,
and keeping him.
None of this registered as Matteo hit the stairs, stumbling up toward the main hall in a jumble of clumsy limbs
and jittery nerves. He didn’t know how Alfonzo would
react to Lucita walking in unescorted. He knew his lord
wanted to see her, had in fact been worried that she would
not return, or that she was planning some sort of deceit,
but the bishop had not actually requested she come straight
up to see him.
Now, with the immediate threat of the twins behind
him, he was faced with the different, but equally threat-
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ening proposition of explaining why he had spoken as if
he were in command, and the possibility that he had chosen wrongly.
As he passed the hall leading to the kitchen, he heard
shouted orders, and he knew that the twins had unbundled
their captive and were escorting him below. Whoever it
was, Matteo knew he would bear the brunt of his captor’s
anger, and that it would not be pleasant. He gave silent
thanks to whatever god of the living or dead had delivered the poor wretch into their hands. He had no time,
nor stomach, for facing down the twins.
When he reached Alfonzo’s chambers, he hesitated.
The doors were closed, and Lucita was nowhere in sight.
He had assumed that she would ask directions and find
her way, that she would be deep in counsel with his lord
by the time he could make his way to their side and offer
his services. Now he hesitated. What if she’d entered,
gone on to the hall below, where they’d met twice before, and stood waiting-alone? What if the twins rose
from their morbid duties with the prisoner and found
her there. What if Matteo entered, was set to some task
that forbade his interference?
In the end, it didn’t matter. He could not risk waiting longer to report. Alfonzo was waiting for Matteo,
whether or not he was waiting for Lucita. The bishop did
not care to be kept waiting under the best of circumstances,
and the past few days had proven far from ideal. Matteo
knocked sharply, then entered the outer door and let it
close behind him. He pressed forward into the curtains
and before he could knock again, on the inner doors, they
swung wide. Alfonzo stood framed in the doorway, his
expression one of impatience, rather than anger.
“Where have you been?” he demanded. “Lucita has
been here long enough to give me a full report from the
camps. We have much to do, and very little time to do it,
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if everything is to go our way this night. It would be nice,
Matteo, to have things go my way. Where are the twins?”
Matteo was grateful for the direct question, and he
answered in a rush of words, entering the room and catching site of Lucita, and of Katrina, talking quietly together
by the window. He had not seen Katrina since the night
she’d tried to make a feast of him, and he took an involuntary step backward, but Alfonzo stopped him with a
hand on his shoulder.
“You have nothing to fear here,” the bishop said, “unless you fail me. What 1 have for you is possibly the most
important task you have performed in my service. If you
succeed, then you will be rewarded.”
Matteo lowered his eyes, heart slamming in his chest.
“I know I have made promises in the past,” Alfonzo
said, “and I won’t even pretend that I regret any action I
may have taken. I am giving you my word, this time. If
you complete this one simple task, quickly and without
error, then I will grant you what you have wished for all
these years. Better-I will grant the lady you so admire
the right to grant that wish.”
Matteo stiffened at this, but even the sudden, biting
fear of the reminder that he had been disloyal, at least in
mind and heart, to the one he’d followed so many years,
was not enough to dampen his spirit.
“Anything,”he whispered. “I would do anything. But
you know this.”
“I do,” Alfonzo agreed.
In terse, simple terms, Alfonzo outlined his instructions, and Matteo nodded, though his blood ran colder
with each word. He steeled himself. This was the test,
the moment that would decide his eternity-the short,
painful life of a man, or the blood. When he had finished, Alfonzo slapped Matteo on the back and shoved
him on his way, nearly pounding him through the inner
doors in his haste. Matteo didn’t hesitate. He slipped
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through the outer doors, down the stairs and through
the first outer door and courtyard he reached. He didn’t
want any other to see his departure, or to follow. He had
one chance to get through, and didn’t intend to let it
slip through his fingers.
On the balcony, far above, Lucita caught site of his
form as he slipped away down the darkened street. She
didn’t let on that she’d seen. She and Katrina had been
talking for the better part of half an hour. The girl was
young, very naive, very pretty. She might make an ally at
some point, but at present she was little more than a toy,
and so she was losing Lucita’s interest. Alfonzo joined
them, and, relieved, Lucita stepped back, including him
in the conversation.
“Where has he gone?”she asked, not wanting to seem
too curious, but also unable to resist testing her limits.
She had begun to tease Matteo for a single purpose, and
now was the time to make use of the result. She needed to
know if Alfonzo would trust her, not in his words, but in
his affairs as well She’d needed a way to test that, and
Matteo had offered himself up without a whimper. Alfonzo
had as much as admitted the boy knew more about the
workings of the mansion, and the bishop’s own plans, to
be trusted to anyone outside his immediate circle of influence. Yet, he had allowed her to toy with his trusted
servant, and had intimated it might go further, both the
toying, and the trust.
“If he does as I have asked,” Alfonzo replied, “then I
will tell you the entire story. If not, it won’t matter, and
we may find ourselves with a much more difficult task than
we have anticipated. I sent a messenger to Licinius, but I
have no way to know how he will react. He may remember Katrina-fondly,” Alfonzo laid an arm across Katrina’s
shoulders, and she smiled up at him. Her eyes were filled
with empty adoration, and hunger. She was so new to the
blood she could think of little beyond his control of her,
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and feeding. Lucita wanted to say something. She wanted
to point out that the simplest means to their end was to
stake her for the sun or feed her to pyre and then find
someone to blame it all on. She said nothing. She smiled,
and she nodded, waiting to see if Alfonzo would give away
any further secrets.
“We have taken one of Gabriella’sfollowers,”he said.
‘‘I have him below, ready for questioning. I assumed that
you would want to be present. You and the lady Gabriella
seem to have your differences.”
‘‘I find that I have differences with almost everyone I
meet,” she answered cryptically. “It is a character flaw, I
admit. I like power. You like it, as well. I can sense this in
you-could sense it from the beginning. I sense the same
in Gabriella, but there i s a difference. Gabriella is emotional. She will allow herself weaknesses that I do not
believe you would indulge in.” Lucita smiled, but the expression lacked the warmth to carry it through. “For
instance, she will not wish to sacrifice one of her own. I
assume you have prepared for this?”
“Of course,” Alfonzo replied. ‘‘I am actually looking
forward to her arrival, or to that of those who server her. I
have no intention of killing the one I hold. There are a
great number of ways to assert control. One is to kill everyone and everything that opposes you. This method, I
admit, has its merit. It leaves few loose threads to trip you
in the future, and it sets a marvelous example for others.
Still, it is not necessarily a popular method of ruling, and
it tends to limit one’s circle of trusted allies.”
“I can see your point,” Lucita murmured, hiding her
smile. “So,you will show mercy to this captive!“
“I don’t know that I would call it mercy,” he replied.
‘‘I will not destroy him, and I will not allow the twins to
destroy him, but they have other pleasures. It may be that
when this one returns to Gabriella’s service he will be a
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bit less useful for a time. I doubt that he will be quite so
eager to invade the territory of another, for instance.”
Lucita turned to the window, and the balcony beyond. The moon had risen high in the sky, the night was
half alive and half dead-a perfect balance. “There are
lessons that all must learn, in time,” she said softly.
“Gabriella has been hurt before, and I suspect her nature
will cause this not to be her last. She chose her allies,
but I think, this time, she chose with less prudence than
she might have. I wonder how Licinius will react to the
knowledge that Malachite schemesjust beyond the walls
of his city.”
“I am not so certain that Licinius is unaware,” Alfonzo
replied. “Basilio has been in that city a bit longer than I
am comfortable with, and my sources tell of a great many
comings and goings that have little to do with the normal
affairs of the city. Things are happening there, things beyond our control, or concern. I would not be surprised to
find Licinius’ hand in that pilgrimage, as well. I would be
even less surprised to find that he knows of Gabriella and
her followers, tucked up against his walls and ignoring his
influence. This is a tide that could turn either way.”
Lucita turned back to him. You may be right,” she
said. ‘‘I have spoken with Basilio myself. I wonder if you
would be surprised at the counsel he gave.”
Alfonzo stared at her, caught off guard. “When?When
did you speak with him?Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was before I came to you,” she said, turning back
to the window. “Anatole took me to Adrianople by ways I
was not familiar with, inside the walls of the city. Basilio
was there, and he gave me counsel. He said that there was
one who might make a prince in Constantinople, and he
suggested that I work toward that end.”
Alfonzo was staring at her back, but he did not speak.
“He told me,” Lucita said, turning to meet the‘bishop’s
gaze, “that I should come to you.”
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At that moment, a cry rose from below, and Alfonzo
actually smiled.
‘‘I believe,” he said with a short bow, “that we have
company.”
He turned toward the door, and Lucita followed.
Katrina made as if to fall in behind them, but Alfonzo
turned and warned her away with a glance. ‘‘I will be back
for you,” he said, “soon. It is not yet safe for you to be
seen. When this is over, you will walk freely. A second
promise, for a remarkable night.”
Then, with a flourish, he ushered Lucita through the
large, ornate double doorway of his chambers and into
the halls beyond. The shouts frombelow had grown louder,
and Alfonzo began to laugh.
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Chapter Eighteen
The lower level of the mansion had been sealed
again. This time, however, rather than trying to keep a
small chain of naked women captive, the doors were
barred against those attacking from the street. Alfonzo
knew, of course, that these precautions were only a temporary measure considering that the attackers were
Cainites, and angry Cainites at that. It was only meant
to buy time.
He led Lucita down the stairs, passed by the kitchens and descended the stairs toward the dungeon below.
There were cries at their backs, but this only seemed to
fuel Alfonzo’s mirth. He hurried down the steps, turning into the stone corridor below and following a new
set of sounds.
As they came into sight of the cell where Ian had
been tossed, still trussed like an animal, the shadows of
the twins loomed. In the light of flickering torches the
shadows had grown longer, elongating to eerie longfingered shades.
“You are ready?”Alfonzo question had the feel of a
statement, so apparent was his confidence in the two,
and Lucita was glad for it. After the near confrontation
on the street, it was good to see the bishop showing his
support to his followers.
Arturo slipped from the darker shadows beyond the
cell, eyes gleaming in the torchlight. “We have always been
ready,” he replied testily. “There is little time, milord.”
Alfonzo nodded. “Bring him,” he said brusquely.
“We will take the private stairs.”
Leonid had stepped up beside his brother, and he
frowned slightly, glaring at Lucita. It was obvious that
he wanted to say something, to question the wisdom of
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taking someone so newly included in their affairs by a
way that none knew.
“We can’t make it otherwise,” Alfonzo said sharply.
“There is no time for questioning. You will do as I tell
you to do, and quickly. If you do, we will turn this tide
nicely, and by the end of the night have entertainment
such as we have not seen in a very long time. If we stay
here too long, though, we will be caught like rats in a
trap, and while I suspect that I would escape with my
skin, I can’t say the same for us all. Gabriella is angry,
and those who follow her are not weak.”
Without further speech, Alfonzo spun on his heel
and headed back the way he’d come. Lucita fell in
beside him, not wanting to be left behind as a distraction to the twins. There might come a time when
that confrontation would have to take place, but this
was not it.
Behind them, she heard the grate of metal on stone.
The cell had been opened, and moments later there
were footsteps behind, following them down the hall
and up the stairs. As they reached the hall above, they
heard shouts from near the front of the mansion. There
was the clash of weapons, and Lucita’s hand slipped to
her own blade. She was not afraid of a fight, but.she
wondered what Alfonzo hoped to gain from this one.
Defeating Gabriella and her followers was hardly a foregone conclusion, but even if the bishop and she did
prevail, where was the gain in it all?
Then, to her surprise, Leonid pushed past her and
raced to a spot on the wall near the stairs leading upward. He pressed his palm in a quick sequence against
what seemed to be solid stone, and a panel slid to one
side, opening on a dark doorway. Leonid stood aside,
and Alfonzo ducked through the entrance and out of
site. Lucita followed, and as the sounds of battle be-
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hind them grew louder, and closer, the twins brought
their burden through and the panel slid closed behind
them.
The hidden stairwell was dark, but this posed little
problem for any of them. They climbed rapidly through
the walls, the twins taking perverse pleasure in cracking the head of their captive into stone walls at every
opportunity. Lucita ignored them. She had no particular concern for any follower of Gabriella’s, and it was
certainly a lesson that might increase the length of
one’s existence, t h e helpless sensation of being
dragged, bound and blindfolded, to a fate you could
only guess at.
Alfonzo paid no attention to any of them. He
moved quickly, anticipating each turn in the stairs as
they wound upward. Lucita knew that they must have
passed several floors, but Alfonzo didn’t hesitate. They
didn’t slow until the steps ended at what seemed another solid wall.
“NOW,”Alfonzo said with a short laugh, “the real
entertainment begins.”
They stepped through the doorway and into open
air. They stood on one of the battlements, far above
the streets. The wind caught Alfonzo’s hair, blowing it
wildly about his head, and he walked the edge of the
roof easily and without fear. Lucita stepped to the wall
behind him and followed. Behind, the door was closed
with a bang by the wind, and the twins were on the
wall alongside Lucita, Ian’s body hefted to their shoulders and borne between them.
They moved around to stand on a larger, flat slab
of stone from which an intricately carved gargoyle jutted outward, its eyes scanning the streets below in
eternal vigilance.
- “This will do,” Alfonzo said with a nod.
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The twins, already aware of what their master was
planning, lowered Ian to the stone. Leonid pulled a
length of rope from his pocket, and Arturo began to
unbind Ian’s arms, careful not to allow him a chance to
escape or retaliate. Ian was dazed from the beating on
the stone walls as they’d ascended. He posed no threat.
“You know what to do?” Alfonzo asked.
Arturo gazed at the bishop for a long silent moment. He clearly wanted to say something, but he held
himself in check. Alfonzo stood silent, waiting, knowing the struggle that was taking place and not fearing
it. The twins were powerful and headstrong; it was natural that they would chaff under too tight a control.
Lucita’s presence added to the tension of the moment,
but finally, Arturo nodded.
“You know that we do. This is a simple thing, easily completed.”
Alfonzo nodded. “I do not doubt you, Arturo,” he
said, his voice soft, but somehow echoing about the rooftop. He drew himself up, and as he had at the party, he
took on form, substance as dark and empty as shadow,
and as dangerous as impending storm. Though his voice
was the same, his appearance shifted to shadow. His
eyes glowed with flickers of red and the air near him
took on an impossible chill. “If all goes as planned,” he
said, “you will not be disappointed in your place in the
order of things to come. I do not forget those who serve
me well. Nor those who fail me.”
Lucita shifted nervously for just a second. It was
easy to forget how powerful the bishop was. Alfonzo
was old, and powerful, and in such a form his presence was overpowering. She shook her head, fighting
to concentrate.
Arturo turned back to his brother, and the two set
to work, binding the separate ends of the rope to Ian’s
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shoulders and winding them down his arms, securing
them tightly. Satisfied, Alfonzo turned to Lucita.
“They will complete what must be done here,” he
said. “It is time for us to greet my guests. If the sounds we
heard before climbing up here were any indication, they
are impatient. I would hate to keep them waiting.”
It was Lucita’s turn to laugh. For all her guile, she
had no idea what he was planning. She felt the exhilaration of the moment, the wind in her hair, the streets
far below, almost calling out to her to leap into the night
sky and drift to their embrace. The sounds of battle rose
from beneath them, and it was impossible to tell from
those sounds who prevailed.
Alfonzo was touched by none of it. He stood watching her for a long moment, then turned back to the
doorway through which they’d come and opened it, slipping back onto the shadowed stairs. Without a glance
at the twins, Lucita followed, pulling the door shut behind her.
*
*
*
O n the main level of Alfonzo’s mansion, Gabriella
had forced entrance through the front by brute force.
She’d brought all of those she could muster, knowing
she would get one shot, and one shot only at pulling
Ian out unscathed. It was obvious from what had taken
place at the tavern that her influence there was known,
and through that, probably everything she’d planned,
as well. There was no way to know to what lengths
Alfonzo’s people would go to drag information from
Ian. He was strong, and would likely hold out to the
end, possibly beyond, but there was no way to know it
for certain.
So they’d come. She had managed to draw together
a sizeable force, though a great deal of them were mortal. Most were mercenaries, those gathered from the
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tavern and the Genoese Quarter, lured in by a quick
handful of gold and an incomplete explanation of where
they were going and why. Her own people were spread
thinly, but they were good.
When the break had happened into the main hall,
she’d quickly conferred with Raphael and Gradin, who’d
slipped off down the street in the blink of an eye. Pasqual
stood at her side, and he fought like one possessed. For
all his teasing of Ian, the Frenchman worried more about
his chess partner than he would ever have let on. Also,
the younger Cainite had been taken while under
Pasqualb supervision, right out from under his nose on
a night when both had been warned to be on their guard,
and to exercise extra precautions.
Those inside fell back from the door, and Gabriella
hesitated. This was too easy. She knew that there were
flaws in Alfonzo’s defenses, but he was not a fool. This
was happening far too quickly, and she nearly called
her men back, retreating into the streets. Then Ian’s
scowling face popped into her head-eyes intent on the
chessboard before him, seeing a part but not the whole,
and frustrated by his lack of vision-and she gave the
signal to move ahead.
They would go inside, and they would get Ian out,
one way or another. She wasn’t looking forward to
locking horns with Alfonzo, but neither did she fear
him. There was more at stake than a simple argument,
or even the control of the city. She had lost those close
to her many times in the past, to a number of differe n t enemies, and once-one very dark moment in
time-she had lost the one closest to her heart to another she had trusted. This was not going to become
another such moment.
With a feral growl, she leaped through the damaged doorway, cut out and down with her blade, felled
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a man who’d tried to come at her from the side, and
dodged nimbly into the hall. She could see only half a
dozen of Alfonzo’s servants, armed and ready, squared
off against her. It wasn’t right.
They were no match for her, or even for the least
of her followers. These were no hardened soldiers, nor
even time-tested mercenaries. They were servants,
kitchen workers and clerks, and they fell back rapidly,
as though the job at hand were not to repel invaders,
but instead to merely remain alive.
Pasqual leaped through the doorway to her side,
and she pulled him back hard against the wall. None
pressed the attack once the first to do so had fallen,
and moments later Gabriella’s entire troop stood in the
hall. The defenders watched a moment longer, making
a brave show of brandishing their weapons and glaring
at the invaders, then as if on a signal, they cut and ran
back down the hall. They never looked back to see if
they were pursued, or if they would die. They ran, and
dumfounded, Gabriella and Pasqual stood in the hall,
their small force gathering behind them, wondering
what had just happened.
“It seems,” Pasqual said softly, “that we play someone a bit more skilled than young Ian this night.”
Gabriella said nothing. With measured footsteps,
she set out down the hall, her weapon held loosely to
her side. She watched the shadows for an ambush, but
her instincts told her it was wasted effort. There was
no one. None stood between her and the rest of the
mansion, and the only thing that remained to itch at
her mind and steal her thoughts was the absence of a
defense. Moving ahead into such a void was foolish.
She had watched Ian make such a mistake time and
again on the chess board, and she could tell by the wary
expression on Pasqual’s face that he recognized it too.
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It stank of a trap, but for all of that, she could not sense
the specifics of the danger. The hidden pieces remained
obscured, and none stepped forward to call the check.
With a shrug that meant nothing and everything
all at once, she continued. Just down the hall was the
great double door leading to the hall where the bishop
had held his party. It had been an eternity since she’d
last entered that room.
“He will be waiting,” Pasqual whispered.
Gabriella nodded. “I know, but this time, old friend,
I don’t intend to sacrifice my knight.”
Pasqual nearly smiled, but repressed it, and they
moved on, measuring their steps in shadows and listening intently for the slightest sign of motion, or retaliation.
*
*
*
Alfonzo had dropped down the steps like a dark
bolt of lightning. Lucita followed easily, and they were
at the base of the stairs in moments, standing on the
opposite side of the stone door that led to the hall by
the kitchen. Alfonzo did not use this exit, but turned
into a deeper shadowed passage and continued on.
Lucita still did not question. She knew he had a plan,
and she knew that, if his trust was to be won this night,
it would not be because she questioned his actions, or
his judgment.
They reached another wall, and Alfonzo turned to
her, bringing a finger to his lips to indicate she should
continue in silence. Lucita nodded, and Alfonzo pushed
against the wall, sliding another panel open. He glanced
through, listened intently, then gestured for her to follow once more. They entered the great hall, and as they
passed along the wall, Alfonzo reached out, plucked a
wine bottle from the great racks lining one dark section of wood, and in the next second had managed to
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add four long-stemmed goblets to his take without the
slightest break in stride.
He turned to the center of the room, and when
they reached the raised platform in the center, he nodded for Lucita to precede him up to the table. He
leaped nimbly up beside her, placing the goblets on
the table and quickly opening the wine bottle by pressing one long-nailed finger into the cork hard and fast,
popping the cork inside. He poured until the four goblets stood full and gleaming in the dim reflected light
of torches in the hallway beyond. Turning, he tipped
the bottle up, took a long pull of the blood-soaked
wine, and smiled.
Not knowing how to react, or why she wasn’t fleeing this place, Lucita returned the smile. There had
been the faint clash of weapons in the hall, but this
had passed, and there were retreating footsteps drawing ever nearer.
“It is nearly time,” Alfonzo said softly. He pulled
back a chair for her, and Lucita seated herself at the
table. Alfonzo joined her, taking the seat opposite and
picking up one of the goblets, watching the doorway in
what appeared for all the world to be no more than idle
curiosity. With a shrug, Lucita picked up her own goblet, as well, and leaned back, watching Alfonzo as he
watched the door.
The sounds in the hallway beyond grew louder.
There was a crash of wood, and a single scream. Immediately following this, the sound of footsteps pounding
the floor grew nearer. it seemed to Lucita that whatever defense Alfonzo had prepared was buckling. She
wondered at his calm.
Moments later, they saw a rag-tag group hurry by
in full retreat. They were followed by another group,
weapons at the ready, which stopped as it drew abreast
David Niall Wilson
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.
of the door to the great hall. Even from that distance,
Gabriella was clearly visible. Alfonzo raised his goblet,
tilted it slightly in the invading group’s direction, and
took a sip. His smile had not wavered.
Gabriella stalked into the room, Pasqual pacing
nervously at her side. Her mercenaries fell in behind,
and they moved slowly across the floor to the raised
platform, and the table, where Alfonzo and Lucita sat
waiting. Lucita’s hand had drifted to the weapon at her
side, but she made n o move, taking her cue from
Alfonzo. He was obviously planning something, but
what it could be she could not guess.
“Sonice of you to drop by,” the bishop said in greeting. His voice boomed out across the room, taking on
that surreal quality that seemed to echo it from every
board and rafter, bringing it to those within hearing
from every direction at once. He lifted his glass again.
“Where is he?” Gabriella asked, ignoring his greeting. “What have you done with Ian?”
“Your spy?” Alfonzo asked, raising an eyebrow. “I
would think that by now you would understand that
when you place someone in a precarious situation, sometimes they fall. I’m certain the chess master there would
agree.” Alfonzo acknowledged Pasqual with another
nod. “It is not a peaceful world,”he added. “Come, drink
with us. The night is young, and we have started it off
with such excitement.”
Gabriella drew into herself, growing very cold, and
very pale. She was shaking with the effort of controlling herself. Pasqual put a warning hand on her shoulder,
but she shrugged it off. Alfonzo was taunting her, but
she was no fool. As Lucita had done moments earlier,
she’d realized that something was not what it seemed.
“You are wondering,” Alfonzo said at last, “why I
would sit here, calmly, as you invade my home, hope-
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lessly outnumbered and putting myself-at least potentially-at your mercy.”
Gabriella did not reply.
“That would make me,” Alfonzo went on, “either
confident of my control of the situation or a fool. Which
do you believe, my friend?I am here, if you believe you
can rush in and take me. I do not think that you will.
The one you call Ian’s very existence is in the balance,
and only I can solve the Mystery of the outcome. I wish
you would reconsider. Sit, talk, have a drink.”
Gabriella stood, uncertain and wavering, and suddenly, the bishop clapped his hands. The room lit on
all sides. Torches leaped to life in a huge circle, held
aloft by twice a hundred hands. Men, Cainites, everyone that could be dragged in at short notice and up
through the doors from the stables had been summoned.
They closed their ring, leaving Alfonzo, Lucita, and
their attackers penned into the center.
“You might escape,” Alfonzo conceded. “There are
many among them who fear you outright, and not many
here could stand before you if you desired them to fall..
Still, you would be departing without that which you
came here for, and I don’t believe you want that. Sit. I
promise, for once, that I shall be brief.” He hesitated,
then smiled again. “The wine really is excellent. The
blood is from an eighteen year old swordsman who fell
in battle. He was dying when he was drained, slowly,
and he fought very bravely. It has a strength to it-a
vigor that many other vintages do not. I know not everyone enjoys this particular Venetian specialty, but you
really must have some.”
Gabriella sheathed her sword in a sudden, violent
motion. She continued her stalking, angry walk to the
table and stepped up. Pasqual joined her, but the others, overwhelmed and certain they were breathing what
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might be the final breaths of their lives, fell back into a
tight knot to one side.
“I admire your courage,” Alfonzo said pleasantly,
as Gabriella dropped haughtily into one of the free
chairs. “I have to question the logic of such a frontal
assault, but I admire the spirit behind it. I might have
acted the same, when I was younger.”
“Where is he?” Gabriella repeated. She made no
move to lean forward, engage Alfonzo in conversation,
or to take the wine. Pasqual sat easily, poised on his
seat for whatever might come, but with an expression
more of curiosity than of fear.
“Your spy is safe,” Alfonzo said, more brusquely,
“for the moment. The outcome of his days depends entirely on yourself, and your reaction to the things I’m
about to explain to you. I am not fond of destroying
our kind, particularly if it can be avoided. There are
better uses for power, uses I’m both aware and fond of,
as well you know. For now, you will be silent, and I will
speak. 1 will tell you how things are now, and how they
are going to be. You will agree, and then we will part.
Your follower will be returned to you. It is simple, yes?”
Gabriella glared at him a moment longer, then nodded. Alfonzo continued.
“I have given a great deal of thought to our city, of
late,” he said, carefully choosing his words. “I have remembered how things were in the past, and I have
looked out over the way things are now. While this has
been a good time for myself in many ways, it has not
been good for the city itself. Those who were decadent
before the fall are worse. Those who were noble, or trustworthy have turned to intrigue.
“I will be the first to admit that the Latin Quarter,
where my own influence has been strongest, has been a
cesspool of such behavior all the nights of its existence.
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I have ruled over that, understood it, embraced it and
made it my own. Still, it does not feel complete. One
can only spend so many years as the ruler of the taverns
before becoming enamored of the ballrooms. This was
a great city, and whatever such as we may do, it is destined to be great again.
“Those who ruled have fallen or are gone. There
are a few who believe the Dracon will return, but I am
not one of those few. He left Byzantium behind long
before either of us arrived here, and I believe that rather
than thanking his followers for tracking him to the ends
of the earth, he may well destroy them for their arrogance. This city is a new city now, and it needs new
rulers. One new ruler,” he corrected. “I have decided
that this one must be myself. That is why I have summoned you.”
Gabriella bristled at this, but Pasqual barely contained a smile. “Check,”he whispered under his breath.
Lucita heard it and winked at the old Cainite, enjoying the show now that it was finally underway, and
admiring Alfonzo’s style. He had a way of doing everything extravagantly that lent the air of importance to
things that might otherwise have seemed trivial.
“DOnot be deceived,” Alfonzo laughed softly. “You
were summoned. I had no other reason to capture your
whelp at the tavern. I could have easily had him destroyed and his dust returned to you in a box. I knew
that you would come. I would have been disappointed
if you had not.”
“Then return him to me,” Gabriella said, less certain. “I have not come here to attack you, but only to
win him free.”
“You will be given ample opportunity for that,”
Alfonzo replied. “You will remove yourself, your followers and any interest that you currently possess in
David Niall Wilson
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the Latin Quarter and keep to the Genocse Quarter
across the Golden Horn. Failure to do so will result in
the destruction of any and all I find in violat ion of this.
The quarter is, was and shall remain mine. You are free
to traffic, travel and conduct business in your own quarter, but you will do so openly and on my leave. 1 will
not have spies skulking about my doorstep.”
Gabriella was silent. She listened, but she acknowledged nothing.
“YOUwill withdraw your agents from the camps at
Adrianople, but this should not be too difficult for you
as I do not believe they will exist for much longer. I
have been in contact with Licinius, and I believe he
grows tired of the hovels leaning on the walls of his
city. I expect that he will agree with me that they
should be emptied. In fact,” Alfonzo whirled the goblet in his hand, took a sip, then went on, “I hear that
your ally Malachite will be leading them all away soon.
Have you considered, Gabriella, the wisdom of following him?”
“This city is my home, for now,” she said. “I will
not follow a fool on a fool’s quest. Not for him, and not
for you. Nor will I, “ she said evenly, “give over domain
of the Genoese Quarter.”
“Then,”’Alfonzo replied, slamming the goblet suddenly onto the table and leaning forward, lifting slightly
out of his chair to loom over Gabriella’s smaller form,
“you will remain here under my rules. This will be a
great city once again, and it will be my city. You can be
a part of that, or not, but you will not hinder it.”
“You mean,” she sneered, “it will be a pawn to the
powers in Venice. Archbishop Narses will rule here as
surely as he has ruled everywhere else he has sent you.”
“Narses knows nothing of this,” Alfonzo laughed
softly. “When he finds out, I am certain he will be dis-
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pleased, but then, what is a family without its disputes?
I have other allies than Venice,” he cut his gaze to check
Lucita, who nodded at him coolly. “I have also come to
some personal conclusions. Let those erstwhile refugees
play at being pilgrims and preachers of Caine. As I’m
sure you’d be happy to indicate, Narses himself has
shown the difficulties of reconciling being a bishop and
a prince. Heresy is an ill-fit for me. I believe that I will
trust in what I am, and who I am. I am darkness. Let
the mortals of this city be my herd and my domain, but
I do not need to make them my flock.
“If damnation is what they fear, I will become their
fear. I will be Prince in Constantinople from this night
forward,” he said with finality. “I have sent messengers
to the various houses, those who joined you at my party.
I have heard back already from a third of them with
their support. That is more than enough to carry the
day should any have other ideas. You see, Gabriella, I
did not call you here to warn you I was about to take
the city you so covet for your own. I called you here to
tell you it was already mine.”
Gabriella remained silent. A t last, she bowed her
head, just for an instant, as if gathering strength from
somewhere deep inside. “You have made your point,”
she said at last. ‘‘I will abide by your rules, for the moment, because, as you well know, I have little choice. I
will remain in the city. Where is Ian?”
The night had steadily slipped away from them,
and just the faintest hint of glowing light had painted
the edges of the skyline beyond his walls. Alfonzo knew
the sun would still be a bit in rising, but it was imminent. He felt the pull of the earth and the faint
uneasiness that accompanied each new day.
“GO,”he said quietly. “You will find him on your
way. I will send for you soon, and we will take counsel,
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261
not just the two of us, but all the houses.” Gabriella
rose quickly, still uncertain.
“Where will we find him?” she asked, still focused
on her follower. She ignored everything else, and
Alfonzo watched her, giving Lucita the impression of a
great black spider watching a moth squirm in his web.
“Go,”he repeated.
Gabriella whirled and leaped from the platform.
Pasqual was at her side, and her other men fell in behind. No one stood in their way as they departed,
hitting the hallway a t a run and heading for the broken doors beyond.
“Where is he?” Lucita asked while A1foni:o watched
Gabriella’s departure with an intensely satisfied smile.
“Where we left him, more or less,” Alfonzo answered. He stood, gestured for her to follow, and ran for
the stairs leading upward, toward the quarters where
Isadora had been slain. It did not take them long to
reach the rooms, and Alfonzo stepped quickly through
to the balcony beyond, leaning out over the edge and
looking up. Lucita followed his example.
Far above, where the gargoyle jutted froim the side
of the building in the path of the rising sun, not so far
in the future as it had been moments before, a figure
swung violently, suspended by a length of rope. The
twins had looped the rope over the neck of the gargoyle and kicked Ian’s still-bound form over the edge.
He could not break the bonds, and within short moments, the sun would break free of the horizon and he
could be fried, crumbling to dust.
Below, there were shouts from Gabrieilla’s men.
They had spotted Ian, and several of Gabriella’s men
had returned to the broken doors, trying to fight their
way inside and up to where Ian hung. The doors were
Lasombra
closed to them, a small group of Alfonzo’s mercenaries
having secured it.
Then, with a cry, Pasqual drew back his arm. Lucita
watched in wonder as that arm whipped forward with
the speed of a striking snake. Something silver and glittering whistled past the balcony, and both she and
Alfonzo shied back away from it. There was a crack,
metal glancing off stone, and moments later, with a
hoarse, muffled cry through his gag and the ruffle of
cloth in the breeze, Ian’s form shot past, falling toward
the ground below.
He struck a small stand of trees, one of the many
gardens, and bounced violently from branch to branch.
Lucita watched, wondering if he would pierce his heart
on a tree branch. Now that would be an entertainment
worth seeing. He did not. Moments later, Ian’s crumpled
form lay on the street below, and Gabriella was directing others to lift him and carry him. They had little
time to get off the streets, or they would all suffer the
fate their now broken and battered companion had so
narrowly escaped.
Lucita leaned out, glanced up at the gargoyle once
again, then down to where the dagger still lay in the
dust of the street, blade broken.
“You knew he could do that!” she asked, turning
to Alfonzo.
He looked thoughtful. “NO, but it is a good thing
to know. Amazing, really.” He turned to leave the room,
the turned back.
“You will stay here tonight. There is no time for
you to get safely to your own quarters. When Matteo
returns, I will have further news. Important news. For
now, we both must sleep.”
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Lucita nodded, and smiled. ‘‘I will stay here, then,”
she said. “It seems fitting, since in a way this is where
all of this began.”
Alfonzo nodded slowly.
“Rest well, Lucita of Aragon,” he laughed. “The
new night may bring more than we have bargained for.”
And he was gone. Lucita slid the triple panels of
dark mahogany across the balcony exit, sealed the sleeping chamber tightly, and made herself comfortable.
Beyond the walls of the mansion, the sun rose over
Alfonzo’s Constantinople.
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Epilogue
Matteo staggered down the street. He was chilled.
Every inch of him felt as if he'd been dipped in an icy
stream and held up to a stiff breeze, whirled and slapped
to increase the stinging pain. He pulled his cloak about
himself more tightly and went on. He had only a short
distance to reach Alfonzo's mansion, shorter hours before he must present himself.
His mind was awash in anticipation, fear, longing
and hunger, but despite all of these sensations, he could
not stop the crawling of his skin. He felt awash in tiny
feet, as if vermin squirmed through his clothing and
into his hair.
He made it as far as the doorway to the kitchens,
and he fell against the wood heavily, managing to turn
so that his back struck with a loud thump. Moments later,
the doorway was opened from within, and he was dragged
inside. He was vaguely aware of being lifted and lain on
something soft. He remembered the scent of food from
the kitchens, and little else before exhaustion dragged
him away into its clutches. He slept for hours.
When darkness had fallen, Matteo was awakened
by the shake of a strong hand on his shoulder. He gasped
and sat upright, catching the scream before it could escape and shaking loose from a very dark dream. In the
dream, he fled through the streets of the city, heart
pounding, and behind he could hear the laughter of
the twins, and that of Alfonzo, mocking him. His skin
was coated in sweat, and even as he shook off the dream,
he wondered if it held more truth than nightmare.
He rose and quickly cleaned himself. There was
no time to change, he strode into the hall and up the
stairs with purpose. Alfonzo would be awake, and likely
Lucita would be with him. Matteo noted the repairs
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265
underway o n the great front doors, but he did not pause
to hear the story of how they’d been broken.
He knocked firmly on the outer door of Alfonzo’s
chamber, pushed it open and stepped inside. He let it
close behind him completely, sealing off the light, before he parted the curtains and stepped to the inner
doors, heart pounding. No one opened the door, and,
with another knock, he pressed on the latch. It opened
with a soft click, and the door swung wide.
Matteo gathered his courage, sucked in a long, rasping breath, and stepped inside.
He saw Alfonzo immediately. The bishop-no, the
prince-stood at the far wall, leaning back against the
polished wood and watching Matteo’s entrance. In a
chair to one side, Lucita lounged. She had one leg up
and over the chairs leg casually, leaning back to expose
a good portion of flesh at her throat. Her eyes were dark
and without emotion. She watched Matteo as well.
“I have seen him,” Matteo said without prompting. “Myka Vykos. I made my way to the place you told
me of. I passed through, though his guards-they are.. .”
Matteo hesitated, then continued. “They are ghouls.
They were not gentle, and they were not easy to convince that I had business with their lord.”
“And your business went well?” Alfonzo asked.
There was something in the tone of his voice that removed the question from the words. Matteo only nodded.
“I told him what you asked,” the servant replied
softly. “I told him what had transpired here, and what
you plan.” Matteo turned and bowed slightly to Lucita.
“I told him of you, as well, lady. He was very intrigued
to hear that you were here.”
Alfonzo watched Matteo for a long time. The
prince remained silent, and Matteo stood firm. His
knees felt as if they’d been replaced by soft bread dough
from the kitchens, and he felt as if he might faint from
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terror, but he stood very still. If he were to die now, at
least he would do so with courage.
Then, very suddenly, Alfonzo laughed. The sound
was full and deep, echoing through the chamber, not
dulled by the heavy curtains and rich tapestries.
“He has already been here,” the prince said. The
moment that daylight failed, he came, unannounced.
We have spoken, the three of us. It seems that Vykos
has plans of his own, and an interest in my own.
“The greattst threat to my own rule here might be
Malachite and his quest for the Dracon, who is the progenitor of Vykos’ own line of Obertus monks. If that
Nosferatu fool ever manages to bring the Dracon back
to this city, there could be trouble. It seems, Matteo, that
Vykos himself has plans to eliminate that possibility.”
Matteo gulped in more air, fighting for the strength
not to cry out in relief.
“There is more,” Lucita cut in. ‘‘I have arranged
for Vykos to meet with my own sire in Madrid. It seems
a great number of the powerful have suddenly found
themselves walking parallel paths. There could be great
things in the future. There has never been an alliance
between my clan and the Obertus, but who knows?
When the future of a city, or a world, hang in the balance, fate can choose odd bedfellows for the powerful.”
“And so,” Alfonzo continued, “you have done as I
asked. You have done me a great service, Matteo, a service I’m not sure another could have done in so swift a
manner. Vykos and Monqada has also agreed to help
smooth things with Licinius and Basilio in Adrianople,
relieving us of potential tensions between the cities. It
would appear that I am in your debt.”
Matteo dared not speak. He dared not meet the
prince’s eyes, nor Lucita’s, so he kept his own fixed on
the floor, where richly designed rugs formed a soft,
plush carpet.
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267
In the corner, a shadow moved. Katrina stepped
into the dim candlelight. She was smiling, but her smile
was for Alfonzo alone. Matteo watched as this former
living noble of Adrianople slipped up behind the new
undead Prince of Constantinople, slid her arms around
his waist and teased the flesh of his throat with gleaming fangs that glittered wetly.
“We will hunt,” Alfonzo said. “When that hunt
is done, you will both be gone from here, I believe,
and that is well. I will expect to see you within a few
nights. You, Lucita, because we have things to dothings to plan. You, Matteo, because though I do not
believe you will carry on my affairs during the daylight after this night, I do expect you to carry them on
as you can. You will remain with me, afterwards. You
will be my.. . collateral.”
Lucita smiled, rising as well. Matteo nearly took
an involuntary step back. The moment was ovenvhelming. Fear crept in to join a rising elation. He raised his
gaze to meet Lucita’s and the fear washed down and
away. He was trapped. She moved with deceptive speed,
one moment directly in front of him, the next behind,
a long nail pressed into the base of his chin, lifting and
tilting. Matteo trembled and leaned back against her.
He never knew when Alfonzo and Katrina departed. He knew only that first, sharp bite, the grip of
her hands, so strong he might have been clamped in
bands of metal. Matteo closed his eyes, and he was surprised. He had expected visions of darkness, of blood
and deep shadows, of Lucita’s dark eyes taunting him
and her lips pressed tightly to his flesh, but that was
not what was granted.
As Lucita ushered him into the night, Matteo saw
a final vision of the rising sun.
It did not take long to fade to dusk.
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About t h e Author
David Niall Wilson has been writing since the mideighties. His credits include the Star Trek Voyager novel
Chrysalis, the novel This is My Blood, The Grails Covenant Trilogy, Except You Go Through Shadow (a
Wraith: The Oblivion novel included in The Essential
World of Darkness), two short story collections (The Fall
of the House of Escher and The Subtle Xes That Bind), and
over a hundred stories in magazines and anthologies. He
lives and writes from a huge old house in North Carolina,
near the Great Dismal Swamp, with the love of his life,
Trish, their son Billy and daughter Stephanie, and occasionally his two boys, Zachary and Zane. Amid the chaos
of four cats, a rabbit, a fish named Doofish who lives in a
blender, and a pit bull named Elvis, creativity flourishes.
David Niall Wilson
269
The Languedoc (Southern FrancelLate1208
I
They must be very inexperiehced, thought Zoe, or
very exhausted. Otherwise they Would have waited till
they’d crossed the plain to make camp. Granted, in the
dark it was a bit difficult,even for her, to see how wide the
plain was or whether they were going in the right direction. For mortal eyes it must be harder yet. She could no
longer remember what a night like this would have looked
like a few years ago, but she could imagine-the vagueness of shapes, the way the moonlight leached color out
of everything. Within the circle of firelight were certainty,
safety, and humanity. Without, in the blackness, anything
at all might lurk. She moved closer. They finished gulping down their meager supper and began to talk.
She liked to talk also, when the company was right.
Gregory had joked that one night he would find the key
that wound her up and throw it away. In the caravan, she
and Meribah had chattered the hours away as their horses
ambled beside each other in patient tandem. But in this
country, she was reduced to the pantomimes of a very small
child. “ P e r h n q x ,sinher, Pu v u e Grenoble?”together with
a wave off southward had to do for, “Excuse me, sir, but
I’m walking to Grenoble; could you be so kind as to tell
me whether that road is the best way?”
And so all she could hope for was to fish the odd
phrase here and there out of the river of soft Occitan syllables. The woman spoke especially quickly. Once in a
while the monk broke in, repeating a phrase in Latin or
Lombardic to see if he had the right idea. “Pap” was one
of the words he said-that meant the Pope of Rome. Another she kept hearing was “cathares.” She didn’t know
what the Franks meant by this word, but it sounded like
the Greek for “pure,” and so it made her uneasy. Then a
final phrase she knew all too well: “Prenon la cr6s.”
Take the cross. Crusade.
It was not possible that these people really cared, or
even understood, about the ashes of Constantinople. They
saw the knights riding home, horses’ backs bent with sacks
of stolen gold. They heard the troubadours’ lies. Yet here
they were, muttering ‘‘moisade” to each other, and their
faces were not shining with reflected victory, but closed
and dark. Something was happening. They huddled together, monk and merchant and rich lady pilgrim with
her chaperone. Their fire was small.
Z& shifted from one haunch to the other. Her legs
never hurt or went numb anymore; but sometimes she suddenly realized just how long she’d gone without moving.
At last the monk stood and left the circle of light,
peering his way out, and made for the privacy of the tree
near Zoe. He pissed a considerable volume. Then he
crouched, experimentally. He gathered up his habit with
care, just high enough and no more. A monk‘s modesty
should be as a maiden’s, Gregory had told her once. The
eyes should be lowered, the elbows kept close; neither his
gestures nor his garments should float abroad. Well, this
one’s eyes were low all right-drooping in fact. He was
sleepy. He wouldn’t even see her. His pale, spidery hands
were full of russet cloth.
His hands. He settled back against the tree and moved
the gathered folds into his lap. There was a glint of gold
and blue there at the middle knuckle of his right hand.
With a fingernail of his left he worked a miniscule catch.
The little jeweled dome rose from the ring itself, sprouting tiny whirring wings and bobbing about on ? mechanism
of wire and spring so thin it was all-but invisible. Amid its
buzzing flight soft piping notes both high and low sounded.
The monk‘s lips relaxed into a smile as he watched. It was
a thing of exquisite craft and occult knowledge, all bent
to serve a moment’s harmless enchantment; its sole purpose to lift the heart and nothing more.
A thing she had built, for Gregory. It was her very
first simulacrum-for five months she’d worked on it only
in the daytime so as to surprise him. He’d been so proud.
He’d laughed and clapped, then put it on his finger and
never taken it off again. She’d done better since, of course.
But because it was the first it was always dear to him. How
much more pain had it earned him? How many hours of
torture did it take to satisfy his captors that he told the
truth when he said it was a plaything?
And now here was this bald-shaven scuttler, its new
master, setting it to dance for him while he shat.
She could not stifle the noise that rose in her throat
and warned him as she sprang forward, closing the distance between them in three impossibly long strides. He
started and fell sideways, spent the last moment he had
catching himself instead of shouting or reaching for the
knife at his girdle, and then she was on him. She seized
his face, which had fallen into a stupid blank rictus of
terror, and wrenched up and sideways. There was a savage, gratifyingcrack. She sank her teeth into the taut skin
of his throat. It was so easy. If Andreas had not made her
leave, if he had not held her back, she might have had
this man in Bergamo, might have had them all. She saw it
now as the hot sweetness of his blood coursed down her
throat, multiplied the deaths in her mind. Throat after
throat, a scattering of rust-robed corpses painted redder
still, lying like trash wherever she dropped them. Her
father’s agony avenged. And the one who’d defied her,
Fra’ Isidro, the one who’d stood by the table still dusted
white with Gregory’s ashes and had the gall to raise a crucifix to her.. .
Isidro!
The man’s body fell through fingers that suddenly
turned clumsy. She stared down a t him, even more furious
with him now that he was dead. This was not what she’d
meant. She’d been going to drag him away and question
him. She might have gotten the name of a city at least.
She’d waited a good few months for Isidro and his
companion to emerge from the fastness of their monastery; then when they’d finally come out they’d rode
damnably fast for monks, and quickly left her behind. She’d
since learned they’d ridden west out of Bergamo. But that
meant only that the Susa pass best served their needs. Now
that they were out of the mountains they might go anywhere. Her mount looked rather woebegone lately, lamed
by a stray stone two nights ago. Perhaps she would take
this one’s horse. There seemed little else to gain from him.
Then she noticed the leather case hanging next to
his knife-a messenger’s pouch. Bending, she carefully
undid its catch and took out the parchments and the
leather-bound book nestled within. She broke open the
seals on the parchments. Latin, of course. She had a bit of
Latin, but not enough to read it, especially not this
cramped, hurried hand littered with mysterious abbreviations. Still, she spotted the word Ysidro in one of them,
buried in a middle paragraph.
Perhaps it was a clue. It had to be.
Moving quickly (surely the others would soon come
to look for the dead monk), she undid his rope girdle and
hung the messenger’s pouch on her own belt, as well as
his knife, though she already had one. It was good metal
and could be sold, or melted down to make something.
The little vademecum breviary with its illuminations of
angels and priests she let him keep. She pulled the ring
from his finger and coaxed the little jewel-scarab back to
roost on it. It would not fit even on her thumb, so she
tucked it away. She could hang it on a chain later.
His eyes were open partway. He was not looking at
her, but still there was a dumb reproach in his skewed limbs
and bent back. He’d fancied himself a man of God, no
doubt. He would have wished to pray. He would have
wished to lie down in dignity, to have the rites of his
church, to he mourned by his brothers since there was
likely no wife or child to do so.
She leaned over him and dropped a carefully aimed
gobbet of red spit onto his face. Then she made for the horses.
*
*
*
Cant eu la wei, be m’es parwen
als olhs, al wis, a la color
car aissi tremble de paor
corn fa la folhu contra’l wen.
Non ai de sen per un efan
aissi sui d’amor entrepres;
e d’ome qu’es aissi conques
pot domn’awer alrnurna pan.
He finished his verse with a sprawling grin and leaned
over the table. “You see?A little wine doesn’t wash away
my refinements.”
Zoe thought all the Occitans sounded slightly drunk
even when they weren’t. She caught his chin between
her thumb and forefinger. “Yes, but it no proves that you
go to university. You maybe heard that anywhere. What
about Latin?”
“Latin! Latin is it? I have found myself a ladylove
indeed.”
“Do you read Latin?” she repeated.
“Yes, of course I read Latin. I argue in it. I gamble in
it. I dream in it for pity’s sake. It’s all I do all day. Are you
honestly going to make me sing to you in Latin? Charity,
fair maid!”
“I have some letters I no can read,” she said to him.
“And a book. I want to know what is this book.”
“Of course, my dove.”
“It must be in private. We go to a room.”
He brightened considerably at that. “Ofcourse.”
The inn’s resident girl gave Zoe an ill-tempered stare
as she maneuvered by with her scholarly companion. She’d
gathered many interested looks from the men here. She
supposed she was a novelty: olive skin not quite tempered
to white by the cold vampire blood, dark Byzantine eyes
and a flood of brown hair which caught amber glints in
the firelight. To her, the Languedocienne women looked
washed-out, like a drawing left out on a sunny windowsill; to them, she suspected, she simply looked dirty. Her
clothes were dirty, spattered with road-mud. She hadn’t
stopped yet to wash them and had no idea what she would
wear while she did so in any case, unless she stole something. Her other changes of clothes had all been in
Gregory’s wagon.
The scholar didn’t seem to mind her grime. He
stumbled-on purpose?-and allowed her to catch his elbow. He gave her a smile. She felt her spine stiffen.
The little room was quite bare: the less kept there,
the less for guests to make off with. A lumpy bed of mildewed straw sat in one end, and a heavy unfinished trunk
crouched at the foot of it, mainly providing a place to rest
one’s shoes while one unlaced them. In the comer were a
chipped washbowl and a pitcher of water. The scholar
tumed down the coverlets, peered at the mattress and
groped it dubiously, and finally hoisted himself up to sit
on it.
“The letter.” She handed it to him.
He looked at it blankly a moment, then smiled at her
again. “Yes, the letter.” He reached for her hand. She
stepped back.
“Well?”she prodded him.
“Well-what?”
“What does it say?”
He glanced at the parchment again. “What do you
mean, what does it say?Ah. Half a moment. It is a letter,
isn’t it. In Latin.”
‘‘Yes.Is what I told you.”Shefought down her risingvoice.
“But who would be writing a little dove like you?”
“What matters it?You say you will help me, you read
me this letter.”
“Well, I didn’t think you meant me to read it in the
pitch dark,” he snapped.
She started to take it back from him. “Very well-”
“No, wait-wait, wait, wait, my dove. Don’t be cross.
Don’t be hasty. Come.. .your hair is so lovely in the moonlight. W h y don’t you just go and get us a little candle, and
we’ll have a look at your letter, I promise.”
As she left he was already struggling out of his gown.
Didn’t think she meant him to read in the dark? Didn’t think
she meant him to read at all, she thought. The innkeeper
charged her what she thought was an awful lot even for a
candle, until she got him to slow down and repeat himself
and realized it was for the rent on the room as well. She
bought a pitcher of beer as well and brought it up. Considerable expense.. . the letter had better be worth it.
“This isn’t addressed to you, I can make out that
much,” he said when she came back. He was down to his
chemise and braies, and he shivered a little. Let him shiver.
‘‘I know.” She poured him some beer and came to sit
beside him, holding up the candle. He rested the hand
holding the letter on her thigh.
“Well, all right. It says something here about a shipment of oranges.”
“Oranges?”
“Yes,oranges from Chambery. That doesn’t make any
sense. Anyway, the shipment made it to Bergamo all right,
hut there was some trouble from the sellers, who followed
them to Bergamo and demanded the oranges back, and
there was a fight. Two crates of oranges were ruined, two
crates of apples ruined also and three more crates of apples
were damaged.. ..This is nonsense, I don’t see where the
apples came into it.”
“No mind the oranges. Go on. The letter say something about a man named Isidro, right here.” She tapped
her finger on the word.
“I’m getting to that, my dove. There’s a very long bit
here on everyone’s health, everyone’s coughs and rheumatism. Two monks are dead, the Lord took them very
#
suddenly. Here’s your Isidro. Let’s see. It says he is going
back to Toulouse by the speediest route. He would have
done better to stay in Lombardy, I’m sure.”
“What is the speediest route?”
“It doesn’t say. The only way I know is through Valence, Avignon, St. Gilles, and then-what would it
be-BCziers, Montpellier, Carcassonne, Narbonne, is that
right? Maybe. Anyway- Castelnaudary, and then you’re
more or less there.”
“And what else?”
“Er.. . nothing else, really. The rest is all verbose blessing.”
“Then here.” She handed him the little book. “Tell
me what this is.”
“My, my. This is a nice binding. Awful, crabby hand
though. First thing in the morning I’ll look at it, in the
good light.”
“NO,now.”
“Eh, The things I do for a pretty face.” He thumbed
through it. “These look like strange little dice with too
many spots. The world abounds with cheats! Geomantia.. .
Ah, I see. It’s a handbook on geomancy, casting the dots.
Been pick-pocketing sorcerers, have you? Orange-eating
devil-monks. Tch-tch-tch.” She gave him a sharp glance,
but his voice was light, and though his eyebrows were
buckled in a slight frown he didn’t really seem to be connecting the chain of facts. He looked more befuddled than
suspicious. It was doubtless too much to hope that he’d
out-and-out forget their meeting, but at least he probably
wouldn’t make as much of it as he might have sober.
“Casting the dots!” she echoed.
“Yes, my dove.” He put his arms around her waist.
“You see, you take a long stick and you poke it into the
ground, over and over.. .”
‘‘I think I understand.” She squirmed.
“Doyou now?”His lips soughtout the hollow ofher neck.
“No. Leave me.”
“Come,come. Shh.. . It’sall right. Haven’t I been good?“
She put her hands on his chest and shoved, forcing a
puff of air out of his chest and causing his hands to fly
loose. He sat back up and stared at her a moment, his
expressionpiteously slack. Then all at once his young face
hardened. He reached for her again, and this time no
soothing words tumbled from his lips. They were pressed
tight together.
She got up. He wavered to his feet and pitched himself forward at her. He was bigger than she was, and should
have bowled her over, but she caught him easily and took
hold of his hair, bending his head back until he was looking into her face, into her eyes glittering like the sharp
edge of a cut obsidian. At that moment he decided to start
taking her seriously. He balled up his fist and shot it upward, landing a cracking blow on her jaw. She roared-the
voice hardly sounded her own, it was so deep and rawand threw him into bed, which slid a full foot from the
force of it. He landed slantwise against the frame, then
gracelessly collapsed.
For a moment he didn’t stir at all. Then he half-lifted
himself and began to edge sideways. His fearful gaze never
left her.
‘‘I see it now,” he said hoarsely. “You were sent by the
Devil. You are a nightmare in dark woman’s shape, sent to
tempt me to drink and lechery. But you can’t hurt me.
We’re in the church‘s very shadow, and I’ll go there, where
you can’t follow. Pam Noster, qui es in caelis-”
“You are an idiot,” she fired back. Her teeth had
emerged and filled the front of her mouth, making it hard
to talk, but she went on regardless. “Your lechery is all
your own, and you can keep it. Crawl to church if you
want.” She gathered up her letters and her book and fled.
“I should have known you weren’t a woman!” he
shouted after her. “You have none of a woman’s natural
desire, and I thank God I never entered your cold cleft to
my damnation!”
Coming down the stairs she could still hear him. She
half-expected the inn’s thronging patrons to turn to her
and fall on her as one, but they only gave her curious
glances, as they had all evening. She pushed through them
and out, tumbling queasily among the slabs of living, heaving flesh until she fell out the door into the bitter winter
gusts. The inn’s heat remained in her cheeks as she made
her way through the narrow streets.
Her cold cleft. How dare he! How dare he grasp for
her with his skinny fingers one moment and accuse her of
inciting his lust in the next. He’d been watching her as the
wolf watched the lamb before she’d even crossed the common room. Who was he to tell her about a woman’s desire?
Had he ever so much as consulted a woman for her desire?
At least the Cainite thirst was a thirst for sustenance, a
necessity. These mortal men lusted for flesh no less greedily, whether any necessary purpose could be served or not.
It was their delight, this plundering of innocence, and then
of the tatters of whatever remained once innocence was
gone. Before Gregory took her in, she’d seen it. She’d learned
from the other urchins how not to be found, where to sleep
and where never to sleep. She’d learned from the example
of those who fell victim as well as from the wilier, older
children. And she’d been lucky.
Her cold cleft. Natural! So being a vulture, a carrioncrow was natural.
He was simply upset because he had run into a stronger beast of prey than himself. She clutched her bundle to
her chest. She hadn’t even gotten to the second of the
two letters. But Isidro, that other vulture, thief and hypocrite, he was on his way to Toulouse. So be it. She would
not waste further moonlight in this town.
She turned her face to the sky, seeking out Polaris
where her foster father had taught her to find it, drawing
an imaginary line from the edge of Ursa Major. Her path
lay westward still.
*
*
*
Through all her journeys, she was always on the pilgrim road. She’d followed the lecherous boy’s suggested
route from Grenoble to the town of St. Gilles, and never
escaped it. If she kept on westward past Toulouse, eventually she would reach Compostela-the Holy Land of the
West. Or if she wished, she could go down to the harbor
and stow herself aboard a Hospitaler ship bound for the
real Holy Land. Either way, God ruled her every step.
Lately that did not seem the comfort it should. Supposing
she did go on to Compostela, would the Apostle James
receive her? Could she stand in the fierce corona of the
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem?If even the little cross of
Isidro terrified her, what was left of pilgrimage?
Andreas had his answer. He put his trust in Set,
Lord of Storms, and no matter where the winds blew him
he went forward calmly, secure in the protection of one
little god among a thronging pantheon of little gods. The
snake-priest had once said that he could not credit the
idea of a Lord of All-or if there was such a Lord, He
was clearly fickle, inattentive, even cruel. Unworthy of
worship, in any case. The God of the Hebrews and Christians Andreas counted simply another little god, perhaps
pettier than most.
Meribah-Meribah had always kept rather close
about her own beliefs, now that Zoe thought back to it.
The little redhead seemed to regard herself as the
gatekeeper on Zoe’s path to truth-inBet, and so said what
she felt Zoe was ready to hear rather than what she really
thought. Meribah’s comfort never lay in words, in any case.
It was in a sprightly glance, a wry remark, a sudden appearance at one’s shoulder just when she was wished for.. ..
Zoe looked over her shoulder, feeling more than a bit
foolish for it. No luck.
She herself hoped for nothing from Set anymore. If
his priest and priestess had both abandoned her, it was
useless to look to the little god himself.
She clambered barefoot down the wall on the knotted rope she had left over from the raid at Bergamo and
spent what seemed like far too long snapping and working the rope to get the hook free again. If she could only
get at a proper hammer, she was sure she could bend it
into a better shape. Then she laced her shoes back on
and headed for the abbey. Its bells tolled, calling the beginning of some night-service. Isidro had to be there, or
had to have been there very recently. Where else would
he stay?
But as she drew nearer, she heard another sort of
music, and a little light blossomed at the far end of the
courtyard, a campfire. A lone tinker sat by it, cooking what
smelled like some kind of salt pork and singing in a tongue
she didn’t recognize. As she walked by, she caught the
gleam of his tools, laid out with great care on a square of
sheepskin. He took a bite of his meal, picked up a tool
and began to polish and oil it. The song sounded like a
work-song, lively but just a bit monotonous.
Gregory’s face had been spare and sad, not round and
affable, and he’d never chewed pork-fat or anything else
while he worked. But he had sung quiet songs like that at
his bench as he fitted tiny cogs together or drew up plans
in lead point. All at once she felt a compulsion, enormously seductive,to join this man and follow him back to
wherever home might be. Or maybe he traveled the fairs
year round. She could give him the blood and teach him
how to make planetariums and mirrored spinning tops and
puzzle-boxes for lovers to keep their tokens in. Mortals
would cheer when they unfurled their banner, and mighty
Cainite princes would be cross at first until she and her
new friend delighted them with enchanting presents.
Unconscionable. Tonight she would pray her fosterfather’s indulgence for such thoughts, whether he could
hear them or not. She skirted around the front of the abbey. The best she could hope for would be to catch a
glimpse of red habit in between the arches of an outer
walkway, or perhaps to overhear a snatch of conversation.
Or-a new thought-there might be servants still up at
this hour, squaring away the last horses that had made it
in before sundown. She followed the smell of horses to
the heavy stable-yard gate. She banged at it, and then
hanged at it harder with the soft side of her fist when no
one answered at first.
A little panel set in it opened. “What?If you’re seeking lodging, you should go around.”
“Not lodging-I only want to give a letter.” She
moved her hands up toward the panel; to his mortal eyes,
there seemed to he a parchment there, hearing the unhroken seal of the Bergamo monastery.
“Oh?Can’t quite make the name on it out.” From
the tone of his voice he was clearly fibbing. He couldn’t
read-that part of her illusion went entirely to waste.
“It’s for Brother Isidro. I was told for finding him here.
Is he inside?”
“How would I know?”The man’s voice turned irritated.
“Is a tall monk, in a red robe-” she began.
“Oh yes! The odd red habits. There’s a pair of them
here, yes. Here, give me the letter and I’ll see it gets to the
right one.” He reached out through the panel.
She drew back. “No, wait. I have news for him too, is
not in the letter.”
A sigh. “Well, if you’ll give me a moment, I can show
you to the guesthouse. All the brothers are saying the office, so you’ll have to wait.”
“No. Tell him I wait here.”
“Little girl, he’s not going to come out here to meet
you. Or even if he is, I’m not about to he party to it. This
is St. Gilles.”
‘‘I come back later, then.”
“That’s fine, you do that. Good night to you-” The
panel closed.
She hissed a curse in Greek to herself. Then again,
perhaps curiosity was among Isidro’s flaws, and perhaps the
stable hand would say something to him about the girl with
the mysterious missive from Ekrgamo. She could return tomorrow and see if she’d piqued any interest, and if it might
be possible to arrange a meeting after all. Even if he wouldn’t
take such bait, at least he had to leave again before too
long. Perhaps she should go now, before the night got any
older, spy out the road ahead and try to determine where a
pair of monks would most likely take lodging the first night
out. The trouble with only being up after sundown was that
by then even most of the travelers among the living were
ensconced somewhere, and rarely alone. She still had no
idea how to separate Isidro and his companion. Or how she
could possibly fight the two of them together. If anyone
had come with her, anyone at all!
But that still hurt too much to think about. No one
had come for either her sake or Gregory’s. That was that.
The sound of pounding hoof beats echoed in the
square. She threw herself into a recess in the wall. A lone
horse, a great black warhorse, clattered up to the stableyard gate. A helmeted knight called out “Open up!” and
then took off his helmet and shouted it again. The gate
was hurriedly thrown open.
“Sir Gauthier,”the stable hand puffed. “Back so soon!”
“He’s all done for the night now,” said the knigkt,
evidently meaning his horse. The stable hand helped the
knight swing down and then took the reins. The knight’s
dark mantle moved aside as he dismounted, revealing a
white tunic with a red cross at the left breast.
“The brothers are all at prayer.”
“Good. I should pray also-” The knight tucked his
bucket-shaped helm under his arm and looked around with
a frown, as though he’d forgotten something. His face was
hard, built in almost crystallineplanes, and he had a long
dark mustache.
Then his gaze went right toward her.